Descent into Darkness
by Thrippa
Summary: How does a man whose only goal is to help people live better lives end up nearly destroying the planet with the weapons he created to save it? A tragedy in the name of love. Completed.
1. Intro and 1i Two Worlds

A.N: This is not your standard Sonic fanfic; Sonic himself doesn't even appear. So, if you're only looking for a tale of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, etc. you may want to try a different story. If you like Shadow, you may want to stick around, but he won't make an appearance until a good bit later.

There are two main goals in this story: To investigate the story behind a kind, genius scientist who devoted his career to saving the world then ended his life trying to destroy it; and to synthesize all the backstory about Shadow, Maria and Gerald into a cohesive whole if it can be done. Currently the story is rooted in SH3&K, SA2/SA2B, Sonic Battle, and Shadow the Hedgehog, with some reference to the "Backstory" from the SA2 Japanese manual and to Sonic Riders. I have made two intentional alterations, one minor and one that should be quite obvious.

Gerald, Maria, the Gizoid(AKA Emerl), Shadow, and Eggman (if he makes mention) are SEGA creations, as are the (game) story plots, the Chaos Emeralds and many of the settings. I lay no claim to any of the above, copyrights, etc. are theirs. The other characters, portions of plot not in the games, and locations are my own creations and I do retain those.

Incidently, the chapters are subdivided into sections, what you have here is the intro and the first segment of chapter 1. Enjoy:

**Descent into Darkness**

The faint whisper of the air system is the only sound in the room. The harsh white lights glare down on a desk cluttered with papers at each end; the only clear area the center where the computer keyboard and mouse huddle against the wall-mounted monitor. A single sheet of paper lies on the desk in front of them; the only inhabitant of the room sits hunched over it, his face buried in his hands. His only visible feature is an exorbitant mustache that droops to either side of his taut fingers. A harsh rasp joins the air-system's sighing as his shoulders shake, just once, then all is still again. A tear trickles between his fingers and drops to the paper, rapidly dyeing blue as the ink runs.

_Father - _

_The news is as bad as we had feared. The last test came back today, confirming that Maria, our precious baby girl, has NIDS. The doctors say that this version, unlike the usual types of immune deficiencies, does not respond to bone marrow therapy and that she is not likely to live long unless she is isolated completely to prevent her acquiring further infections. _

Eventually the man sits up and pulls another piece of paper from the mess to his right. A Presidential Seal marks the top of it. He barely glances at the text; he knows all to well what it says. He locates the string of numbers in one paragraph and reaches for the phone. He knows better than his son what the prognosis is for Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome is and that the usual treatments are temporary at best. So now, for the sake of his granddaughter, and her only hope for life, he makes a call he had sworn he'd never make.

1.i. Two Worlds

Some decades earlier, a young man had conceived an interest in the history of the non-human regions of the world. Although he was a technical genius with machines, and specialized in human-interactive machines and bioelectronics - protective gear for firemen and soldiers, artificial limbs that replicated the real ones even to responding to actual nerve impulses - he was always interested in new ideas. Having heard rumors of great but ancient technology from the south, and being curious about the inhabitants anyway, he decided to look for any truth behind them.

Somehow over the course of civilization growth, the globe had been informally divided; humans spread across and developed the northern portion of the planet; while the southern regions were inhabited by a variety of sentient animal species. Although the humanoid animals as a whole got along with each other well, the relations between their collective races and humans tended to be very formal; neither side willing to be aggressors, but never quite trusting each other enough to be friends or allies. As a result there was little contact between the two sides, and the government closely regulated what contact there was. Therefore, Gerald Robotnik took his request to the government's Planetary Relations Committee. After much wrangling it was approved and Gerald set out southwards to research the history of the byodokan(1) or dokan as they generally called themselves; among humans, they were commonly called "furries" in polite society and "freaks" or "animals" in less polite conversation.

Arriving by government car at Spring Grove, the dokan city that was nearest the border between his native continent and the southern one(2), Professor Gerald Robotnik was introduced to his native guide. The dokan seemed as interested in the human as Gerald was with him, and they regarded each other with a fascination that some might have construed as rude. Rafe Curl was a hedgehog dokan, a bit over three feet tall with medium brown fur over most of his body with long, heavy quills on his head and slightly shorter ones down his back. The quills, and the fur on his head and back were black-tipped, similar to the fur of a sable collie; on his sides and front, including his face the fur was uniformly brown. His tail was also black tipped. His hands were gloved, of course - everybody knew that the dokan would as soon go without gloves as a human would go naked - and he wore sturdy-looking hiking boots. His eyes were also brown, the irises ringed with a chocolate color that shaded to almost gold right around the pupils. Rafe was regarding the scientist with equal intensity, and Gerald wondered what he thought of what he was seeing - a man in his mid-twenties, eyes hidden behind glasses, reddish-brown hair already far-receded and a bushy moustache (though nothing like it would become later) hiding his upper lip. He was dressed in khakis that he hoped would be suitable for the terrain and hiking boots very similar to Rafe's but for the size. "How do you do?" he asked finally. "My name is Gerald Robotnik, and I was hoping to learn more of your people's history."

The hedgehog grinned rather insolently, and shook the professor's proffered hand. "I'm Rafe. You_ look_ reasonably prepared to trek through our history; I just hope you're fit enough!"

Gerald ignored the horrified gasps from the dokan ambassadors present, and grinned back. "I am sure that if I am not now, you will soon have me so. Now, if you can show me to a place where I can leave my excess baggage, then we can decide what actually needs to come with us and what can be left."

He soon realized that Rafe was quite right. Trekking through the southern jungles was no mission for the faint-hearted, or the unfit. However, the determination that had led him to so many breakthroughs in bioelectronics now found a new focus, and Rafe proved quite willing to adjust to the human's pace. Gerald, on the other hand, was repeatedly awed by the dokan's stamina and strength. Rafe scouted ahead marking trail, then would trot back past Gerald to look behind, swing back by with an armload of fruit and have camp half made by the time Gerald staggered in. However, it was immediately apparent that the hedgehog had no idea how to cook. Gerald could, and was amused to find that skills learned over a spare Bunsen burner when he had an experiment he didn't want to leave unattended transferred well to a campfire in a dripping jungle. He was equally amused when Rafe declared it was a fair trade - he'd do all the rest of the chores if Gerald cooked the meals. "Can Curl but can't cook!" was the hedgehog's explanation. Gerald recognized the play on Rafe's surname, but not the reference. Rafe said it was from some children's story that he didn't really remember except for the one phrase. The odd pair became good friends in the evenings comparing their respective cultures. About two weeks after they started they arrived at the crumbling ruins of an ancient city.

1From _biyoudoukan _(n) considering all people as equals. Sorry, but calling them furries just seemed silly, especially considering the existence of reptiles and insects in the group ("Scalies" and , perhaps?).

2 The layout of the continents is similar but not identical. Though the actual shapes vary, Gerald may be considered to live in "North America" which is connected by an isthmus to the dokan's "South America". As with our South America, this continent was isolated for a long time, allowing many species to develop in relative isolation. Unlike our world, the isolation lasted until much nearer to modern times and the continent itself has a large archipelago to the west that greatly aided migration to it from "Australia", which was a primitive dokan stronghold.


	2. 1ii The Empire of the Echidnas

ii. The Empire of the Echidnas

"It has no name, that we know of," explained Rafe Curl. "The city was built by the echidnas, a dokan race that reigned over an empire when the city was at it's height, then mysteriously vanished - supposedly overnight. The city is several thousand years old, and some of it appears to be missing...but you'll see, I think. The best overview is from the old temple." The massive pyramid he indicated seemed to have withstood the rigors of time better than the surrounding buildings, which were often little more than a worked block of stone or two poking out of heaps of vines and foliage. As directed, Gerald made his way towards it. As he approached he was startled by a movement - a massive ball of stone that flanked the stairs on the closest face of the temple uncurled!

After a moment in which nothing further happened, he moved forward again, more cautiously. The stone form now was clearly that of an echidna, its mate on the opposite side of the stairs long since broken. Rafe had jumped at the statue's motion as well, but was now trotting up the stone stairs with little regard for their crumbling condition. As Gerald reached the top of the pyramid and rejoined his guide, he could see the entire valley. As he surveyed the view, he noticed something odd. Though it was difficult to tell where all the city had been, due to the jungle that had overgrown it, it seemed to be very oddly off center. Three sides of the valley were ringed by tall, vertical cliffs, in fact to get into the valley they had come through a tunnel that ended on a ledge a long climb above the valley floor, and there appeared to be no other entrance; on the fourth side the cliffs dropped away below the valley floor forming an enormous...well, if there had been any sign of lava rock, he would have said caldera. The mountains on the far side of the caldera were level with those that framed the other sides of the valley. It truly looked as if something had simply scooped an enormous piece of earth out of the ground. The odd thing was that although the city didn't appear to have stretched all the way to the encircling cliffs, it ran right up to, and practically off of, the precipice. Again, if there had been any sign of vulcanism, Gerald would have thought it a place like Thera1, where a volcanic eruption simply vaporized thirty cubic miles of earth and the buildings that stood atop it. But there was no volcanic damage to the buildings; earthquake perhaps, by the way they had fallen, but no scorching, no sign of the thick ash layer that should have coated everything that survived being that close to an eruption so massive. As Rafe had said, part of the city seemed to be missing - along with the ground it had been built upon. Frowning in puzzlement he signaled the hedgehog to accompany him inside the pyramid.

The entrance was clear enough, but interior of the pyramid was partially blocked in places by fallen stones. In the process of making his way over, under or around, Gerald developed new respect for the strength and durability inherent in the dokan. The sable-quilled hedgehog squirmed through the small spaces and heaved rocks larger than himself out of the way so that Gerald could follow, never seeming to get tired, or even winded. Several of the defensive areas were still active - somehow the ancient echidnas had harnessed geothermal energy to heave heated stone blocks into some of the passages to block them. Other areas seemed to indicate a certain reverence for water, including an indoor waterfall that fell deeper than the exterior temple was tall. Everywhere there were statues and representations of snakes. Perhaps most amazing was a room of sliding panels that, when aligned, somehow created their own gravity and permitted the explorers to walk straight up the walls, but even this area was trapped with spiked stones that dropped erratically. Gerald vowed to himself to come back some other time and find out how the panels functioned. Although he had come looking for ancient technology, he felt a strange certainty that this was not what he was looking for, wondrous as it was.

At last they came to a massive mosaic, near the heart of the temple. An enormous, draconic or snake-like creature rising from the waves, it echoed the numerous snake reliefs and mosaics Gerald had passed on his way in. This was it. Without knowing how he knew, he knew that this was the key he was looking for. With the help of his guide, he quickly took pictures and rubbings of the artwork and its surrounding "frame" of hieroglyphs, then headed back out. Along the way they took copies of the few other bits of writing they located. Then they climbed the terribly long ladder to the tunnel that led back out of the valley.

A long trek back through the jungle and Gerald was set up in a human-specialized hotel near the embassy - since most dokan were only about half as tall as humans, many of the buildings were uncomfortably low-ceilinged. The public buildings tended to have higher ceilings, but Gerald still found himself reflexively ducking every time he went into the university's research library. He did that quite often as he was researching the echidnan empire. He was ably assisted by Professor Misty Breeze, a white fox. (He'd thought he was used to the dokan by the time he was introduced to her. But he found himself gaping like a utter idiot at her the first time he met. Her fur was pure white with just the faintest silver-grey shading on her legs and arms. Her eyes were a pale blue, and she tended to dress in skirts and blouses of blue and grey that set off her coloring. Gerald was very nearly in love at first sight, until she introduced him to her husband Arance.) After much linguistic study, Gerald and Misty managed to decipher most of the story. For a story it was around the mosaic, carved into the rock. The story spiraled around from the interior outwards, and the last few sentences seemed to have been added both later and more hastily than the careful, precise signs that recorded the bulk of the tale.

The echidna tribes had lived in the valley for generations, gradually forming a kingdom that was fairly advanced compared to its neighbors. Their primary deity was a water god, for water gave both life and destruction; a smaller faction, mainly soldiers, worshiped a snake god for the snake's silent strike and ability to devour foes larger than itself. While the kingdom prospered, a strangely glowing gem was found in one of the mines, and brought as an offering to the sacred spring. This spring was the home of mystical creatures called chao, who were considered messengers to the water god.

("Chao?" Gerald asked when Misty gave him the translation for the peculiar, dotted teardrop-shaped glyph. "What does 'chao' mean?" Misty explained that they were still kept as popular pets, although she'd never heard of anyone giving messages to them; she offered to introduce him to her son's chao sometime.)

Petitioners would bring offerings of fruit and prayers and if a chao ate the fruit, it was considered a promise that the god would hear. So the people lived well, the chao lived well, and the kingdom prospered and traded with both its near neighbors and distant lands. Then a merchant far afield found another of the glowing stones, and brought it also to the shrine. Now the echidnas began actively seeking more so-called "power stones". At some point after this a new tribe came to power over the original line of rulers; the Knuckles clan. They obliterated the names of their predecessors completely and ruled with a new philosophy - since the gods had favored them with the "king" power stone (apparently larger than any previously collected, and supposedly found by the Knuckles' chieftain inside an anaconda he'd slain) it was clear that the echidnas were most favored and thus should rule over all the dokan tribes. Now the kingdom became an empire and began to actively extend its reach. The water god fell from precedence although the occasional power stone was still brought back from conquered cities. The aggressive snake god served the empire's goals better, although the commoners still brought offerings to the chao and the avatar.

(The avatar? After a bit of intensive research the white vixen managed to locate a second, more detailed reference. Apparently somewhere along the way one of the chao had grown and morphed - perhaps, Gerald mused, because of the "power stones"? - and was now considered an actual aspect of the god.)

Now the empire was approaching its height, and construction was begun on two massive temples, one the squared pyramid of the Snake God - obviously the one Gerald had explored - the other a circular replacement for the original shrine to the water god. The great green "King" power stone was mounted at its summit under a domed roof and around the base were erected 7 pillars, each crowned with one of the power stones. The original spring was channeled into the several levels of the new shrine, and into a moat around the base, and the avatar was seen no longer, although the chao remained as always.

Then Chief Pachacamac came to rule, and devoted his reign to conquest. Deciding that the power stones would be useful in the fight, he went so far as to attack the Shrine and slaughter the chao in his attempt to take the stones. In response the avatar erupted back out of the spring and, possessed by the water god himself, destroyed the empire; tearing the shrine itself out of the ground along with half the city.

The tiny remainder of the Knuckles tribe gained access to the floating island before it left the region entirely, vowing to prevent the misuse of the power stones ever again. The remaining echidnas carved added the warnings around the story in what remained of the temple, then faded into obscurity and eventual extinction. The floating island itself drifted off over the ocean and was rarely seen.

Gerald would have taken the end of the story as the usual sort of "paradise lost" myth associated with great civilizations - such as Atlantis and Babylon - but Misty insisted that it was true. Or at least, the part about the floating island was true; she easily pulled out a number of news references and factual texts about the enigma. Gerald remained unconvinced but contacted a friend of his who had joined the Space and Satellite Division of GUN - and received not only several satellite photos of the island in several locations but a record of its motions over the last ten years. Also included was a not that although the satellites could see and track the island, they were unable to actually record any details about it; although they could count cars in a parking lot in Central City they could not reveal the exact size and shape of the island, let alone its actual surface. The cause of the interference was officially unknown, unofficially his friend said most of the unit considered it magic.

1 Okay, so Thera is from _our_ Earth. But it was a truly incredible explosion and what I consider the most likely source of the Atlantis myth. And with all the other myths referred to in the Sonicverse, Atlantis is probably in there as well. So Thera should be too.


	3. 1iii Island in the Sky

iii. Island in the Sky

Having learned all of this, Gerald decided to try and track down the island, which over the years had been named Angel Island, although it was apparently somewhat taboo. Enlisting the help of Misty's cousin Todd, a rather devil-may-care pilot, he gave him the current coordinates through from the Space and Satellite Department and the two set out to investigate Angel Island.

The Flying Fox was a neat little plane - almost too little, for the average dokan was only about half the height of the average human and the copilot's seat proved a tight squeeze for the professor. But curiosity trumped discomfort and they set out with a flight plan to Westside Island - for permission to fly to Angel Island itself was unobtainable - and the ostensible purpose of researching the ruins there that had been originally erected by those dokan that had had to flee the spread of the echidnas. Once they were well offshore though, Todd swung the nose more southward, until they could see the massive cloudbanks that tradition (and GUN satellites) said collected around the floating island. Unfortunately the air currents around the mass were totally unpredictable and although Todd managed to turn the plane towards the island rather than the sea below, they landed with rather more force than either the pilot or his passenger had anticipated.

Fortunately the damage proved not too extensive, and Todd shooed Gerald off to "hunt for your history bits. I do this sort of repair all the time, and then I'll clear a bit of a runway before I catch up with you." Gerald allowed himself to be persuaded without argument and set off before Todd could change his mind.

The island was surprisingly large, mostly hilly, dominated by a central, snow-capped peak. Gerald climbed the closest ridge and found an amazing sight before him. What appeared to be a desert was visible to one side; a jungle of what looked almost like giant mushrooms stretched to the other side, beyond which - he tapped up the magnification on his spectacles - yes, there was a blunt topped, pyramidal or conical shape out that way. Ahead the jungle changed beyond the third ridge to look more like normal trees (and sure enough, at the increased magnification, those WERE giant mushrooms in the foreground); with some sort of ruins visible beyond that on the lower slopes of the mountain. Gerald checked his compass and delineated an arrow pointing southwest towards the truncated pyramid with some hastily collected stones. He waved at Todd, who didn't see him, and headed down the ridge towards his goal.

It was actually closer to a cone than a pyramid. The water mentioned in the old writings was gone, and the stones battered and fallen; but the basic outline was clear. An island floating in a sort of airy "bay" near the edge of the larger one, linked by an ancient wooden bridge to the main body. As Gerald picked his way cautiously across the bridge - marveling at its state of preservation - more details came clear. He was so entranced by his find that he barely heard the strange ringing sound that seemed to be emanating from the structure. Two circular levels at the peak of the hill, surrounded by a partially fallen colonnade or cloister; seven pillars ringing the lower level with a head-sized, glowing gemstone shivering at the top of each, a second set of broken pillars ringing the top level around...what was it? Gerald had an impression of an enormous green glow before - "Halt!"

Gerald jumped with shock - a short but stocky red figure lunged out from behind one of the broken pillars before him. He instantly took in the flattened spines, the massive hands with the spikes over the knuckles...prudently he stopped, but inwardly was thrilled - one of the Knuckles clan! Still here, guarding their ancestral shrine! His delight faded some what as he observed the echidna stalking towards him, noting the belligerent posture and raised fists. Quickly he began to explain his presence, actually stammering in his eagerness to be heard and gain permission for a closer look. The echidna cut him off with a growl, "I am the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald Shrine. You will leave NOW!" For emphasis the echidna slammed one spike-knuckled fist into the ground. Gerald caught a sudden flare of light - green, or white? Too bright to tell - then was plummeting into blackness and silence.

For a panicky moment he thought he'd backed off the edge of the island but the thought was cut short as he hit a hard surface. Blinking the after-images away he realized that it wasn't actually completely dark, in fact there was a fair amount of light coming through a rift in the ceiling. Because it was a ceiling. He was standing in a room with a green marble floor and walls tiled in blue. The walls themselves were rippled, giving the effect of a curtain hung around the room. And on one wall... He moved forward a few feet, and grinned as he realized the angle of the sun was just right to highlight the point of interest - on one wall was an intricate mosaic depicting a creature surrounded by an aura of fire, or force, facing down a gigantic monster. The monster had one hand grasping at a gem that resembled those up above - suddenly he remembered the echidna and looked around in alarm, but there was no sign of the guard that had precipitated his fall. With a shrug he turned back to the wall and laughed - the "monster" had a very familiar looking nose and moustache. Shaking his head and still chuckling at the fanciful notion that the ancient civilization could possibly have depicted HIM - more likely it was some sort of beak, and the "moustache" simply facial markings - he directed his attention back the to being with the gilded aura. That was no echidna; the spines were there, but wrong, they were rounder and upright, and the back spines far too pronounced - it was a hedgehog, he realized, a hedgehog in an aura of flame, or power. And the larger creature was giving or taking one of the - what had the guard said? Chaos emeralds. Not power stones...yes, the water god, formless and mutable, with that awesome destructive power and the ability to make solid rock float - the symbolic representation of Chaos itself. And these gems, the glow they gave off indicated they were no ordinary stones, but possessed of some mysterious internal power; could they have reacted somehow to cause the disaster that brought down the mighty empire? They had potentially created the "avatar" from a chao...

Gerald Robotnik was so deep in his musings that it wasn't until the rope hit him in the head that he realized he was no longer alone. Looking up, he saw Todd leaning over the edge of the fissure in the ceiling. He looped the rope around his waist and Todd hauled him out - yet more evidence of the dokan's superhuman strength. When he got to the top, there was no sign of the echidna, and Todd insisted he'd seen no one - in fact he seemed to think Gerald had imagined it as a result of hitting his head in the fall. Gerald dropped the matter and moved towards the shrine, feeling the pull of curiosity, scientific zeal, and a strange certainty. Dimly he noted that the ringing noise had stopped.. The central king stone - the Master Emerald? - was glowing more brightly than before, but the smaller Chaos gems seemed to have dimmed and stilled. Picking up one of the many fallen stones on the ground, he flung it at the nearest gem, toppling it off its pillar. With another great flash all the remaining Chaos Emeralds vanished! Gerald grabbed the fallen one - somehow shrunken to fist-sized - and ran, Todd racing beside him as if pursued by foxhounds. Neither looked back, or even slowed more than the uphill run required, until they reached the Flying Fox.

Back at the plane, neither one could explain exactly why they had fled so desperately, but even Gerald's insatiable curiosity was not enough to send him back to try and look at the greater stone, which alone had remained atop the shrine. Besides, he somehow felt sure that he had everything he needed from the island. They reboarded the Flying Fox and as Todd took off.

"Look!" exclaimed Gerald - the island's nearly touching the water now!" Indeed, the lowest spike on the bottom was being splashed by the waves beneath it.

Todd nodded. "The old stories say that sometimes the island actually lands in the ocean and floats. At other times it's so high as to be totally invisible in the clouds. It's a strange sort of place."

The return to the mainland was uneventful. Gerald said goodbye to Todd with copious thanks and returned to Spring Grove. He bid farewell to Misty and Rafe, and a few other dokan he'd gotten to know over the last few months, then smuggled his glowing prize back home to the north.

A/N : This chapter includes a modification of the Japanese story background for Knuckles. Essentially the story for Knuckles in SH3 started with Knuckles patrolling the emerald shrine where he guarded the Master Emerald **and the Chaos Emeralds**, then there is a major upheaval, he blacks out and when he recovers the Chaos Emeralds have all vanished. This poses a bit of a problem with the prior two stories since Sonic has been collecting Chaos Emeralds for two games, and in fact has them at the start of SH3 when Knuckles "recovers" them. So either Knuckles was out for a very long time...or perhaps the initial Knuckle was not "the" Knuckles, who is only supposed to be 16 years old, but "a" Knuckles. The version I opted for makes use of the fact that the Japanese texts always refer to the line of Pachacamac as "the Knuckles tribe". You can decide for yourself if Gerald met the Knuckles we know or a predecessor. I also, of course, referred to the common theory among fans that Gerald saw the mural on Angel Island and that figured in to why Shadow was a hedgehog.

P.S. For the purposes of this story, if it needs it, the Master Emerald was taken from the primary shrine and hidden in the cave for safety reasons after the Chaos Emeralds were stolen, and Knuckles returned it to the original place after he met Sonic and learned where the Chaos Emeralds had gone.


	4. 2i The Living Gem

2.i. The Living Gem

Once back in his Central City College laboratory, Gerald began experimenting with the "Chaos Emerald" he had taken from Angel Island. He had decided that even though it was NOT actually an emerald, neither being green nor containing the mineral beryl, he would use the term provided by the living member of the Knuckles tribe, rather than the possibly incorrectly translated "stone", or even the more accurate "gem" or "crystal". After a rather complicated, and indeed incomplete, list of component chemicals (several were unidentifiable by any means), he noted down the following : "fist-sized, transparent, crystal in the shape of a faceted sphere, purple color, varying at times from indigo to violet, also varying in intensity of shade. Produces a steady, generally non-illuminating glow with a faint pulsing quality followed by much numeric detail as to spectral wavelengths and lumen range No detectable radiation beyond the electromagnetic spectrum, no evidence of detrimental effects on live forms kept in the vicinity; actually appears to improve health and growth of animal and plant specimens kept within 2 feet compared to those kept 10 feet away or controls kept in adjacent room. Disruptive effects on certain types of machinery within 20 feet. Hardness greater than that of diamond."

Gerald was convinced by the effects on machinery and living organisms that the Chaos Emerald did, in fact give off some form of radiation. During his attempts to develop a detector that would actually read such info, he discovered that hooking the Emerald to a machine allowed the machine to draw energy from the emerald as if it were a battery. Unfortunately, the energy invariably overloaded the device and caused it to malfunction or explode. It appeared that the energy was somehow, incredibly, self-replicating - the machine pulled a given amount, as it would from a battery, but the amount of energy increased once in the machines circuits. Chaotic energy, indeed. Gerald was fascinated as this appeared to contradict the known laws of physics. It also hinted at possibilities for indefinitely sustainable power - if you could control the increase to match what the device was actually using... His head spun with plans and possibilities. One of the problems with bioelectronics was getting power sources that were small, lightweight, safe, and either long-life or easily rechargeable. There was not a lot of room in an artificial hand, and if it was actually connected to the nerves it was all the more critical to have a safe power source. His TA's pried him out of his lab with difficulty and he taught the mandatory classes on autopilot.

While he was trying to figure out how to harness the Chaos energy, the military took an interest in his research. GUN (Guardian Unit of the Nation) offered him his own lab with access to better equipment and resources than he could achieve on his own; for although his family was one of the richest in the country, certain items were restricted and he refused to obtain them illegally. (His absconding with the chaos emerald was the only questionable thing he had ever done, and he had convinced himself that once he knew its secrets and could replicate them, he would return it to the shrine; after all it wasn't as if it had been being USED for anything. He refused to acknowledge, even to himself, the feeling that he had been MADE to take the emerald.) To be legitimately offered the scope to pursue his research on a higher level was a chance he jumped at, and he eagerly accepted. Besides, it would free him from having to interrupt his important research to give lectures. Soon he transferred to the relative isolation of the Alternate Research base on the island of Kauai, typically referred to as the ARK. While research into known technologies was done in mainland centers, most new experimental and prototype research was done at the ARK. This was both to limit stealing of research and to limit possible damage if one of the new technologies did not go as planned.

Gerald reported to the main office after disembarking from the governmental jet that transported him to Kauai. The head researcher, Dr. Harold Green greeted him briefly. "I think you'll enjoy it here. The director says he wants you to concentrate on developing this discovery of yours into a self-sustaining battery for our vehicles and robots. To that end," he interrupted himself to tap twice on an intercom on the desk, "I'd like you to meet Dr. Mary Bronston. Dr. Bronston," he continued to the woman who'd just entered behind Gerald, "this is Dr. Gerald Robotnik. Since you design a lot of the robots we use, and he's being assigned to develop a new power source for same, I'd like you to show him around. He's been assigned to labs 12 and 14 in G unit. Have a good day Dr. Robotnik, and keep me informed of your progress."

Gerald found himself suddenly in the hall outside the office looking blankly at the door. "Dr. Bronston..." he started.

"Mary, please," she said. "That's Dr. Green, all right. Just send him an illegible scrawl every couple of weeks and he'll be satisfied. He doesn't really care what you're doing as long as he thinks you're keeping him up to date. Twelve- and Fourteen-G are adjacent labs across from mine; I'm in Eleven and Fifteen - yes, even in the brain-pool we're a bit superstitious - and G unit is out this way." She ushered him out a side door and across a large compound, pointing out various buildings as they went. "The dorms - you should have a room assignment and key card in your box... post office, I'll show you your box after we see the labs...that's the main supply stores all the little sheds in back are where possibly useful "junk" is kept; you don't have to requisition the "junk" but you have to be signed and sealed to get anything from main stores so we do a lot of scavenging here...B unit...laundry...ah, here we are, G." She led him up the steps into a solid-looking concrete building. The inside was pleasantly cool, but austere - simply a long hallway with numbered doors at intervals along it. Fluorescent strip lights were mounted along the ceiling, but currently the light was all coming through skylights. Gerald followed Mary down the hall, even-numbered doors on the left, odd numbers on the right. As she had implied, there was no lab Thirteen, Eleven and Fifteen were adjacent, opposite his assigned pair of doors. Mary pushed the door to Twelve open. "Once you've got your key card, you can lock the door, you can also designate other people who can access the lab if you like." She gestured vaguely around. "So, plenty of space, water and gas access, standard lab bench...anything else you either requisition or scavenge. Dr. Green said you're working on a self-sustaining battery?"

"Yes,"replied Gerald, suddenly eager to explain his research. " I located a very...unusual sort of gemstone that produces a self-replicating energy - I know it sounds impossible," he interrupted himself as he caught her skeptical look, "but I'll be glad to show you the results I've gotten so far. The stone also has some sort of enhancing effects on plants and animals in its vicinity. The problem I'm having so far is that the usual sort of electric circuits are designed for energy that diminishes, or at best stays level. This actually increases until the machines overload." He found himself searching for something else to say; he didn't want to go off into a totally technical monologue, but he didn't want her to leave just yet either. "Erm, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you show me where my quarters are? And then how to go about requisitioning equipment? I'm not a fan of cluttered labs but this is a little TOO sparse." To his delight, that won a smile from Mary, who graciously agreed to continue as his tour guide. He wondered a little at himself as he followed her back up the hall; what was so inherently thrilling about having someone show him a dormitory?

Over the next few weeks Gerald tried to concentrate on setting up his lab and getting all the equipment he needed. For the first time in his life however, he found his focus on mechanisms biologic and metallic being interrupted with stray thoughts of blond hair and grey eyes. Luckily, this was not a major problem as Mary's presence eliminated the need to think about her; and she was frequently present. The two set up lab 12 as a control lab, with a set of plants and lab animals, while in 14 an identical collection of plants and critters were grouped around the chaos emerald. Several monitors were arranged to collect vital signs; Mary had borrowed those from a fellow researcher who had developed them for wireless detection. The various animals had free range of their cages while the machines collected an amazing amount of detail. Both plants and animals flourished in the vicinity of the emerald , as they had in the college labs. His actual assignment was not progressing, though.

Gerald could pull energy from the emerald, but could NOT manage to compensate for the subsequent increase. Circuits shorted out, batteries and capacitors overloaded, and in one case actually exploded - the fire response was very good, he discovered, although fortunately there was no damage except to the tabletop. Mary tried offering several materials she had developed for the robots she designed, and even tried to develop a robot that burned as much energy as possible - that one actually ran for about ten minutes before overloading. She obtained permission to work jointly with Gerald, which pleased him greatly; more time with Mary was to be desired, but what was really needed was a breakthrough.


	5. 2ii Breakthrough

ii. Breakthrough

Gerald was rummaging through one of the ARK's warehouses looking for replacement parts. The supply tech was getting rather snippy about the number of chips he'd destroyed, so he'd decided it was easier to locate some himself. He had already filled a cart with most of what he thought he needed, but there was one more piece... As he sifted through a last few discarded pieces and found the one he wanted, he noticed a peculiar looking robot propped in a dark corner and half-buried in junk. Pocketing the part he moved over to investigate. After pulling it out into the light, he realized the design was completely unlike any human-built mecha he'd ever seen, save only the humanoid shape. Popping open the chest panel, he saw that the circuitry was also completely unique, both in design and apparent materials. He loaded it onto the cart with his other finds and drove back to the lab. He unloaded the parts he'd been looking for first, and as he maneuvered through the door the phone started ringing. He groaned mentally as he heard Dr' Greens voice and realized he'd forgotten to send in any updates recently. By the time he'd escaped the phone call, he'd forgotten the robot completely and instead spent the rest of the morning failing to make progress.

"Hey Gerald, are you busy?" He jumped as Mary poked her head in. She surveyed the ruins (slightly smoking) of his latest variation and switched to a sympathetic tone. "Still no luck? Scott wants to know if you're done with the cart."

"The cart? Oh, yes he can have it." Gerald for once was too preoccupied to really pay attention to what she was saying. He'd been so _certain_ that the last adjustments would help, but they'd burned the circuits out even faster. He suddenly realized Mary was still standing in the door. "Was there something else?"

"Did you want the robot? It's still in the cart?"

"What ro- oh! Er, yes. Um." He remembered the strange circuitry. Maybe that might give him some new ideas. "I'd better bring it in here, I guess; thanks."

"I'll give you a hand, if you'd like. And then you're going to have dinner with me, because you haven't had lunch yet."

Gerald blinked and realized that it was considerably later than he'd thought. He'd worked right through lunch and by the length of the shadows he was close to missing dinner. "But the project..." the protest sounded feeble even to himself.

"...is getting nowhere, so you may as well refresh yourself so you can start new. Even a brain as powerful as yours needs refueling, you know. Or maybe I should says especially." She gave him a playful glance. "Since that moustache is surely leeching nutrients as we speak."

Gerald snorted as they reached the cart. "Hi Scott, sorry I forgot about this one." He started to pick up the robot and Mary grabbed the legs to help carry it. "Cart's all yours now." Dr. Scott Baleff, never one to waste words, nodded and wheeled the cart away towards B unit. Gerald and Mary carried the robot back into their building.

As he elbowed the door of 14 open the light reflecting off the robot's eye made them look as if they were lit from within. As Mary followed him through the door, they almost dropped the machine as it suddenly started to twitch. "Gerald, look!" gasped Mary, nodding past him to where the Chaos Emerald's glow had brightened considerably. Setting the robot down on it's feet, the two scientists stared as it toppled over and seemed to be trying to creep towards the emerald. "Other lab?" she suggested. Gerald nodded and they carried the robot back into the hall. As soon as the door closed on the Chaos Emerald, the robot returned to its prior, inert state.

In the "control" lab, they pulled off the robot's chest plate and began examining the circuitry. Neither had ever seen anything like them, nor the materials that made up the components. Mary took samples and headed for C unit where there was equipment for identifying materials. Gerald meanwhile focused on deciphering the intricacies of the circuitry layout. Dinner was forgotten entirely.

རྩྭ རྩྭ རྩྭ རྩྭ རྩྭ རྩྭ

"Mmmph," Gerald blinked groggily; his pillow felt very hard and was jabbing his cheek. He sat up, realizing that he'd fallen asleep not only on his desk, but on his notebook - it was the spiral binding that had impressed itself on his cheek. Literally impressed - as he spotted his reflection on a reflective piece of equipment, he noted a set of red line up the side of his face. Rubbing his cheek sleepily he moved across the hall and poked his head into Mary's lab. She had also fallen asleep in her lab, her head propped on her folded arms. "Mary." He shook her gently. "Mary, wake up."

"Hmm? Oh...Gerald?" She sat up so suddenly that she cracked the back of her head against his jaw. She winced and grimaced an apology at the same time. "Ouch! Sorry. We seem to have missed our dinner date; can I offer you some breakfast?"

_Date?_ The thrill accompanying the word took him by surprise. Gerald shook his head slightly. _She didn't mean it like that; wake up, Gerald. _"Breakfast would be good. Then we can discuss the robot. The circuits in it are completely unlike anything I've ever seen before."

"Good. I've got some news about the materials too. I know you like bacon, do you like waffles?"

"I don't think I've ever seen waffles at the cafeteria," Gerald pointed out.

"I've got a waffle iron. But don't tell anyone; it's considered a fire hazard," she grinned conspiratorially at him. She accepted a hand up out of the chair and led him towards the dormitory building.

In her apartment, she handed him a package of bacon and began mixing the batter while the waffle iron heated. "That thing is _Ancient_, Gerald, with italics and a capital A. But the materials - there're _plastics_ in there, and some ceramics and metal alloys like nothing I've ever encountered. I can tell you what went into them, but not how they were made; not yet at least." She poured batter onto the metal grill and placed butter and honey on the table. Gerald checked the bacon in the microwave and set out the plates and plasticware she'd placed on the table. "I can probably recreate some of them, but the rest...I don't know. I'll show you the results after breakfast. And a shower. You could probably do with one too, your moustache is only at half mast this morning."

Gerald grunted. "It stayed up too late trying to work out the circuitry in that robot.If what you say is true...well, the layout of the components are as strange as the materials. But I keep thinking I can almost see...the..reasoning, the answer, then it slips away again."

"It'll probably come clear more easily after breakfast and all. You were all day and most of the night at it, after all." Mary placed the first waffles on the table and indicated that he should serve himself. "No point in letting them get cold." She joined him intermittently, but kept an eye on the waffle iron, removing steaming waffles and adding fresh batter as needed. Finally she sent him down the hall with a wrapped package of waffles he could reheat later.

Showered and in fresh clothes, the two regrouped in lab 12. Gerald could read most of the information on the components' compositions, and Mary explained the rest. Many of the materials were truly unique, but unlike the Chaos Emerald, all the component elements could be identified. Then Gerald showed his diagrams of the actual pattern of the circuits, which were unlike anything human technology had used. " In fact, they're completely useless for human technology because they cannot draw adequate power from typical batteries or generators. If you have an energy that increases itself within the circuits, however..."

Here then, was the solution to the Chaos Emeralds self-replicating energies. Inspired and given direction by an ancient robot of impossibly advanced technology, Gerald at last completed his first assignment. Using some of the materials Mary was able to duplicate - some she was simply not able to recreate - he developed the first of his "great" inventions: the Chaos drive. Self-regenerating energy embedded in a control circuit that could be used as a battery with minimal changes to a vehicle's or robot's original design.

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**I think I'll shoot for two posts a week, but this week I'm moving into a new house, so not sure when I'l get the next part posted.**


	6. 2iii The Rings of South Island

iii. The Rings of South Island

At one point during the intensive work that went into the creation of the Chaos drives Gerald had looked up the robot in the ARK's files, in case there was any further information that might be useful. He had learned only that the robot had been found with an ancient stone tablet that was supposedly in storage somewhere, and left it at that; an "indecipherable" tablet was not likely to be helpful. Now that he had a chance to breathe he decided to try locating the tablet, and discovered that it was no longer in GUN's possession - it had been sold to...to... He laughed in delight. GUN had sold its "useless" stone tablet to the Spring Grove University museum. He figured he had earned a vacation after his hard-won achievement so he decided to take a trip down south to see old friends and get a look at the tablet. And he'd invite Mary as well; she'd worked just as hard on the Chaos drive as he had, creating some of the actual materials as well as serving as a sounding board for his theories. He had tried to get her name on the Chaos drive paperwork, but since it was his assignment it was officially his invention; Mary had laughed when he tried to apologize to her, saying that as long as HE acknowledged her contribution she didn't care if anyone else knew. But it mattered to him, even if not to her. He had gradually realized that he was working to please HER, and not himself any longer, and that he missed her desperately if she went out of his sight - even as far as the control lab next door. He wasn't entirely certain what he'd do if she didn't want to come south with him, he was due a month's leave...

Fortunately, Mary was delighted to be asked to join him. She was curious about the dokan after hearing his stories about his previous visit and seemed to enjoy his company as much as he enjoyed hers. Gerald had a wonderful time showing Mary around Spring Grove. He introduced her to the foxes Misty and Arance, and finally met their son Tadrik and his chao, Giggle. Gerald did regret was that he was unable to make contact with Todd; the Flying Fox had last been seen heading out across the sea towards Australia.. Rafe Curl however, was delighted to see Gerald again, and his wife Jenny quickly became good friends with Mary.

Rafe was giving Gerald the details on his most recent "expedition" to the Echidnan ruins. "...And then, after all THAT, it turned out that the head researcher was absolutely petrified of heights and wouldn't step out on the ledge, let alone climb down that ladder. To top it all off, he was so jealous of his prerogatives that he refused to let the students and assistants go down without him! So we ended up having to turn around and hack back through the jungle with still more complaints about the bugs, food, and sleeping in tents. Doctor High-and-Mighty seemed to think we should have put a four-lane highway through the jungle with a couple of 4-star hotels along the route!"

Gerald laughed. "And what sort of stories do you tell about your trip with me, I wonder?"

"YOU were no problem. Besides, there's story enough in that crawl through the pyramid. Did you really find a surviving Knuckles on Angel Island? I can't believe you found anyone to actually take you there."

"I'm not sure what I found, to tell the truth. I know I saw an echidna, but whether it truly was one of the Knuckles I couldn't say. Todd thinks I imagined the whole episode. In fact, I'm not sure at this point I could get him to admit that -we were actually there." Gerald had almost said 'that we saw the chaos emeralds vanish', and wasn't sure why he'd switched. He trusted Rafe more than any dokan but Misty, and definitely more than he trusted some of his colleagues, but... something made him veer away from admitting to having the emerald. He chalked it up to guilt and switched topics as the women came into the room.

"I hope you had a successful trip." He smiled at Mary, standing a good two feet taller than her new friend. Mary's golden hair made a striking contrast with Jenny's black-and-white-ticked quills, but their eyes were nearly the same shade of grey. Oddly, at least to Gerald's mind, Jenny's fur was entirely white, only the long quills on her back and head bore the black banding. Today the two were both wearing red shirts and blue shorts; Gerald had asked Mary why they kept dressing alike but gotten no answer beyond a rather coy look.

"Oh, we certainly did," giggled Jenny. "We ran into Bertha, Rafe," she continued as she leaned over the back of the couch to drape her arms around her husband's neck. "Everything's all set for Saturday."

Rafe frowned. "But Gerald and Mary- "

"-are coming with us. Right?" She glanced over at Mary, who had perched herself on the arm of Gerald's chair.

"Right," confirmed Mary. She ducked her head to look at Gerald. "I hope you don't mind, but you said you hadn't had a chance to see the islands, and I thought it sounded like fun. Besides, I'd like to see the rings for myself."

"Rings?" Gerald turned from Mary towards Rafe with a puzzled frown. "You had mentioned something about rings in passing earlier and I'd meant to ask you..."

"Ah. Yes. Well the funny thing is, they really appeared about the time you left; they were only on South Island at first, and mostly still are, but they seem to be spreading to the other islands...

"To start from the beginning, we don't know what they are exactly. They look like golden rings about the diameter of a spread hand, or sometimes a bit larger, and they just...hang there in the air. No one knows where they come from, but if you touch one you can carry it away and it loses the hanging ability. If you leave them alone for a while, they just vanish, but the ones that are removed tend to reappear after a while. They don't seem to do anything, or affect anything - they just appear and hang there unless someone carries them away." Rafe paused, seemed about to say something else, then visibly changed his mind. He sighed and concluded, "Jen and I had talked about taking a cruise out to see the islands and also to see the rings for ourselves. You don't actually have to come if you don't want to-"

"But of course I want to," interrupted Gerald. He glanced up at Mary, "I assume you want to go, since it sounds like you already arranged it...but who's Bertha?"

It seemed a harmless enough question but for some reason sent Mary into a fit of giggles. It was Jenny, grinning at Mary (which only made her laugh harder) who replied blandly, "Bertha's a friend of mine, Bertha Baerinaur. She's a special materials expert, like Mary, and wanted to go see the rings, but the university won't let her go without a "staff" which they claim to have no budget for. So Rafe and I had volunteered to go with her. And Mary volunteered you and herself to go as well, which means we get to go at the research rates and get better cabins. I don't understand the politics at all, but it's nice to be able to use them to our advantage for once." Mary, with her giggles now under control, nodded and the discussion shifted to a comparison of university politics (human and dokan) versus governmental politics (again human and dokan, as Jenny worked at the university part time and Rafe guided parties both for the university and the government).

Saturday morning Gerald hauled a cart with his luggage and Mary's up the gangway onto a cruise ship and turning a corner collided with a wall of fur. After disentangling himself from the cart - which had run up on his heels - and making profuse apologies he was introduced, by Mary who had entirely to solemn an expression, to Bertha Baerinaur. Who was, in fact, a bear. A giant, especially among the dokan, panda bear. Her black ears easily overtopped Gerald's five-ten height, which made her a rarity among the dokan who were typically less than 4 feet tall. She was most gracious in accepting Gerald's apology. Then she flustered him completely by telling him how much she admired his work with the Chaos drives and how pleased she was to actually meet such a genius inventor.

Mary excused the two of them to settle in and unpack and hauled Gerald into the main room of their suite. "I thought I'd better rescue you before you set your moustache on fire; I've never seen you turn so red. " Which made him blush even more - and that was before she kissed him. Then she scooped up her bags from the cart and disappeared into one of the bedrooms, leaving Gerald to wonder if his moustache really would catch fire, his face felt so hot. He quickly claimed his own bags and ducked into another room. Unfortunately it turned out to be the bathroom.

After locating his own bedroom and regaining some sort of composure - _she kissed me! She actually kissed me!_ - at least outwardly, he returned to the sitting room to find Mary, Bertha, and the hedgehogs seated and waiting for him. He snagged an overstuffed chair and they started making plans for their arrival on the islands. They would arrive at South Island at noon or so on the second day. Once plans were made, they dispersed to enjoy the cruise.

South Island, the first stop on the itinerary, had the most dramatic appearance of the rings. Truly, everywhere one looked there were lines of these golden rings. They seemed to be made of some strange material that was neither metal, glass, nor plastic; and they were possessed of a minor anti-gravity effect, most hovering a few inches to a few feet above the ground. As they continued their exploring the island, Gerald did see some areas where the rings hovered above the tree tops, or even freely in midair, but most were near the ground. As Rafe had noted, they could be easily picked up and carried, but if you dropped them they no longer hovered but bounced and vanished. One could lay them on a surface, but after a short time unattended they would, again, disappear. As long as they maintained contact with a living person, they seemed to remain. Mary asked permission to take some for study, which was willingly granted; there were plenty more where those came from, after all. The problem was retaining them long enough to get them home. After a bit of experimentation she met Gerald for their evening stroll wearing a set of rings as bracelets around each wrist.

The evening stroll. It had started the first night on the ship, when Gerald invited her to walk the deck, which turned out to be a rather popular idea, therfore rather less private than he had hoped. (Then again, he discovered he was nervous enough surrounded by other people; it may have been just as well they weren't alone). They braved the crowds again the second night and Gerald was at least more relaxed although he kept feeling his ears getting warm when Mary glanced over at him. The cruise had a two night layover at South Island, and during the day he'd found a nice stretch of beach that lay away from the popular casinos and night spots. So, while Rafe and Jenny went off toward the bright lights with Bertha in tow, Gerald headed out in the opposite direction with Mary following.

He frowned, " What are you doing back there?" Nerving himself, he took her hand and pulled her gently forward to walk next to him. It was really quite ridiculous; he spent all day in the lab talking to her, sometimes leaning almost shoulder to shoulder over a piece of equipment, but somehow, now, he was almost terrified to speak to her. "Ummm...it's a nice night," he ventured, when the silence seemed to long. He could have melted into the ground at the inanity of the comment.

Mary very carefully kept a straight face. "It is a beautiful night, isn't it? Listen!" She stopped and tugged his hand so he halted beside her. Some sort of creature was making an oddly attractive chirring sound. After a few moments she started walking again. She looked over at him and smiled, although it was probably too dark for him to see it. "I wanted to thank you," she started, "for agreeing to come along on this cruise. I know I should have asked, but-"

"No, I wanted to come if you did," Gerald protested, interrupting her.

"-but I did so want to come and look at these rings. I know you probably had..." she paused, revising what she wanted to say, 'other things in mind' might come across as too suggestive. "Um, had wanted to get on researching that tablet. So I really should have asked, but Bertha really needed to know right then if we were going to get to come here.

"And you were also very good about letting me haul you around the ruins and hills after the rings today." The moon was rising, starting to cast a glimmer of light that mainly glinted of his spectacles. She stopped again, bending down to pull of her shoes to walk barefoot now that they'd reached the beach. "So, thank you for that also." As he stood up holding his own shoes, she took his free hand in hers, and kissed him. He actually kissed her back, then ducking his head started quickly down the beach, but without letting go of her hand. Mary followed, laughing inwardly and gradually pulling him down to a more relaxed pace.

Gerald felt like his face had to be glowing, but glancing over at Mary only revealed her silhouette against the light of the rising moon. He took a deep breath, ...and couldn't think of a thing to say. He looked out at the ocean where the moon was picking out the foam caps of the waves, and focused a few minutes on the sound of the water. An old sound, older than humanity or dokans, and going to be around long after both groups were gone... And somehow, the realization that he and his were ephemeral compared to the world around them gave him the courage to speak. "Mary, I..." he took another breath, but this time found words to say, "I wanted to tell you - for a while now - that...I think you're the most amazing person I've ever met. When Dr. Green introduced us, I could see, of course, that you were beautiful; but then you were kinder than you had to be in showing me around, and you've been so helpful with my work, probably to the detriment of your own, and even though they wouldn't give you the acknowledgement you deserved," he had to stop and draw breath.

"And I'm very grateful to you for all of that. And I'm always amazed at how much you do know about mechanicals and materials - if anyone's going to figure out these rings it'll be you- but also... I..." He looked down at the sand, now palely rippled with light from the half moon. Mary was looking at him, but with her face still in shadow he couldn't read her expression. She didn't say anything, but squeezed his hand gently. Gerald inhaled and tried again. "I 've really enjoyed being with you - not just working with you, although you're the best research partner I've ever had - but just being around you makes everything...brighter. And I'm not saying this very well, but I really...like you a lot." He stopped and turned to face her fully as he finished, part of him cheering at having said it, and part cringing in fear of her reaction.

Mary stopped next to him. "I really like you too, Gerald" she said softly and stepped in to kiss him again. They continued their stroll with his arm across her shoulders and hers around his waist.


	7. 2iv Another Ring

iv. Another Ring

The two repeated their evening stroll the next night, and each night that they were on an island. On board the ship, the evening promenade was popular with far too many people in Gerald's opinion, and what he saw some of them doing! They were dokan, so perhaps the culture was a little different (and truth be told ,he'd gladly do some of that with Mary - if he dared), but, well some things ought to be done in private. Which was why he started getting up at the ungodly hour of six in the morning when Mary discovered that no one was on deck at that time. "Of course not, - they have better sense," Gerald muttered - although not where she could hear. He would have gotten up even earlier had she asked, but willingness to do so didn't quite translate into enjoyment of same. However, the sight of her in the dawn light somehow dispelled both sleepiness and resentment. They talked about a lot of things on the strolls. At first, Gerald kept finding himself overcome with random bouts of shyness, which was both embarrassing and frustrating; but every time he found himself tongue-tied, Mary switched to technical discussions of the rings, or their work at Kauai, and he could answer those. After his control of his voice returned, the conversation drifted back to other topics, including a certain amount of teasing about his speechlessness. But in general, the conversation ranged widely.

"Did you see the engagement ring that Rafe gave Jenny?" Mary asked him one breezy morning. "Or did you notice it, rather, she's worn it the whole time, so you must have seen it."

Gerald frowned, trying to remember; he'd been thinking more about the mysterious "magic" rings than engag- Was this supposed to be a hint? Or Mary's way if letting him know her answer if he'd ask? He gave himself a mental shake. Jenny's hand... "She has a blue stone, doesn't she? I thought engagement rings were supposed to be diamond for unbreakable love or something.."

"Yes and sort of. Humans traditionally give diamonds , the dokan give favored stones. Jenny's favorite happens to be sapphire. Rafe picked the silver setting because he thought it would go well with both the stone and Jenny's coloring. The idea seems to be that you not only love someone but that you're interested enough to find out what they like and care enough to act on the preference. Which I think is a rather sweet idea." This time she was the one who suddenly seemed embarrassed. Gerald realized that she hadn't started the topic meaning to suggest anything, but had suddenly realized what she seemed to be implying.

"So, what sort of gems DO you like?" Gerald asked. "I 've always heard that diamonds were a girl's best friend, but I prefer the tiger's eye with its refractive stripes."

They walked half the length of the ship in silence before Mary answered. "I...have always loved opals." It occurred to Gerald he'd never heard her sound shy before. "They're my birthstone, but I think they're so beautiful, with the 'fractured rainbows in their heart'. That's a quote from a poem I wrote in middle school, actually. Horrible poem, but that particular phrase stuck in my mind. I was horribly disappointed when I learned that you couldn't have one in an engagement ring."

"I think it's a lovely phrase," replied Gerald. "Why can't you put an opal in an engagement ring?"

"It's supposed to be too soft and fragile. Although I sometimes think that makes it a better symbol than the diamond - it has all the colors within it to be revealed, but requires care - if you let it dry out, the colors fade, and if you hit it too sharply it can break. Just like marriages, which have to be tended to prevent their fading or being broken. I've seen too many of my friends being all starry-eyed - or diamond-eyed perhaps - with eternal, unbreakable love only to find that things gets in the way or they or their spouses just lose interest and neither will or can work to restore it. And of course there are those that are destroyed by violence. The diamonds don't reflect that." She gave him a slightly embarrassed smile. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away."

"Not at all," Gerald smiled back at her. "You make a good argument.

"Speaking of colors, look at the reds in that sunrise. Do you think we'll really get rained on?" Not the most graceful topic change perhaps, but Mary accepted it gladly. They discussed the weather, and the Bible quote that mentioned red skies in the morning foretelling storms, and the likelihood of a typhoon hitting Kauai now that hurricane season was upon them. At that point they had to run for the cabin because it started to pour. Later that day, the quintet of humans, hedgehogs and panda were the only ones to venture off the ship at North Reef Island. There were fewer rings than on South Island, or their last stop on Westside Island, but the ones that were there gleamed dully in the rain. Bertha and Mary each added two to their collection of "bracelets", tagging them to identify their origin. After consulting their itinerary with Rafe, Gerald made a private call to their last stop, Emerald Island. It had actually been named for the profuse greenery but a number of jewelers had been attracted by the name to the point that it truly became a good place to buy quality jewelry. When the ship arrived, he managed to slip away long enough to run a private errand while the others investigated the local rings.

On their last day on Emerald Island, during their evening stroll, Gerald offered Mary a different sort of ring, traditional gold set with an untraditional opal, between two small diamonds. A compromise, he said, between the enduring love of two people and the care needed and spectrum of life to be found in a marriage between them. Mary laughed and conceded that she found it an acceptable compromise. And an acceptable proposal.

From Emerald Island the ship returned to it's home port and the quintet made the two-hour trip from there to Spring Grove. There, the hedgehogs threw an engagement party for the pair. The Flying Fox made a appearance, playing up the daredevil pilot role much to Mary's amusement. Misty and Arance were both there, as well as Bertha and several other dokan that Gerald knew. Misty brought perhaps the most important present. She had located the ancient stone tablet and obtained permission to return it to Alternate Research on Kauai and also she had obtained copies of an assortment of references about the tablet and the language on it. There was much jesting from people who knew Gerald too well about him taking the stone on his honeymoon and forgetting to take Mary. He and Rafe retaliated with the suggestion that Mary might take the rings and forget him. All in all, the human couple headed back north in good spirits and eager to return to their respective research.

A/N Thanks for the comments, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far and hope you continue to do so. Due to a move my internet access may be a bit erratic, but I'll try to keep up with the posting at least one a week.


	8. 2v The Gizoid

v. The Gizoid

On their return to Kauai, Mary started an intensive study of the rings, which appeared to be formed of solidified Chaos energy, while Gerald became absorbed in translating the stone tablet that had been discovered with the robot.

The stone tablet proved to be a great challenge. It was not written in the glyphs of the Echidnan Empire, which were well researched and reasonably well understood; but in a cuneiform type of script that was much harder to decipher. It seemed to trace to the earliest days of civilization in the Babylon region - an era when humans and dokan had both apparently lived in the area. Gerald managed to determine that there had been a metal - doll? - or puppet, called... Gizoid? Or perhaps "Everything". A figure falling from the stars or the sky...something about the Fourth Civilization ending. And here, as in the Echidnan legends, were magic stones from the gods, although these seem to have had the power to affect time as well, and something about a flying island, or a city with wings; although this predated the disaster that created Angel Island by nearly three thousand years. The important thing was that the stones apparently had powered the Gizoid puppet, which appeared to be the same being as the robot he had found. The Ultimate Being was another term that apparently applied to it.

The translations having reached a point where he needed more language research, he returned to studying the robot itself, hooking it up to a computer and trying to access any information that might be stored inside. The resulting avalanche of data crashed three mainframes in a row, despite the increasing safeguards he tried with each consecutive attempt. After observing the emerald's increased glow in the Gizoid's presence and the Gizoid's apparent attempts to reach the gem, he placed the emerald in one of the sockets behind the chest plate. With the chaos emerald actually seated in its frame, the robot became far more mobile, and clumsily followed Gerald around the lab, mimicking his movements until he commanded it to stop. What data he had managed to salvage revealed an incredible amount of information about ancient weapons and combat techniques; apparently this Gizoid really was trying to absorb and imitate everything that went on around it. Gerald was appalled to realize that he had uncovered a being that was supposed to have destroyed the Fourth Great Civilization - and alarmed by the realization that it could absorb modern weapons and techniques just as easily. At least, he thought, there was only the one Chaos Emerald, the Gizoid's true power seemed to require all the stones of the gods...

He did not actually take the stone tablet on their honeymoon, nor Mary her rings - she'd discovered that dropping them around the stalk of a plant sufficed to keep them from vanishing. She did however wear two to the wedding - an event that Gerald came perilously close to missing; Scott Baleff practically had to drag Gerald out of the lab in time to change and make it to the chapel. They were married on Kauai, in the ARK's chapel. They had tried to no avail to get permission for the dokan to come, but the government got stubborn and would not release visas to the mainland (and certainly not to a secret research center). So, they were married on the island where most of their human friends were, followed by a trip to Gerald's ancestral estate. He took great delight in showing a rather shocked Mary just how rich a husband she'd captured. Then they left the estate once again in the hands of the accountants and caretakers and returned to the research that both found far more intriguing than mere money.

A fresh look at the tablet and a few new references enabled Gerald to improve his translation. "Gizoid" was both the name of the puppet/robot and the word for "everything". The Gizoid would absorb everything that its master offered it, knowledge, attacks and energy. Retranslating the "falling figure" section yielded the statement "When the figure falls from the heavens, and the Stone of the Gods is joined, all that exists will become one again." To its master it promised absolute obedience; and he worried that someone else might form the critical bond with it and use it for evil ends. He began focusing his attention on discovering how to become the master, or perhaps prevent the bond from being formed, to enable him to retain control over the being.

During this search, life reared its head in a rather literal fashion; a delighted Mary brought him news that they were pregnant. As there were no proper child-related facilities on the island, they arranged to be transferred to a lab on the mainland. Gerald now was assigned to create actual vehicles and patrol robots to utilize his chaos drives; off of Kauai, they had to postpone their more innovative research. Before they left the island, Gerald retrieved the Chaos Emerald and hid the Gizoid back in the warehouse. He still needed to find a way to render it harmless before another researcher discovered its secrets. Therefore he took the stone tablet to the mainland with him as well as the emerald: the latter as precaution against anyone else using it, and the former to search for a clue to the Gizoid's possible permanent control - or destruction.

Things almost fell apart their third day at Central City Labs, though. Gerald stormed in with a scowl that would have made a Knuckles proud. Mary looked at him in alarm. "What's wrong, Gerald? You look ready to spit nails!"

Gerald dropped heavily into a seat, ignoring the protesting creak. "Those...those... SOLDIERS!" He pronounced it as if it were a string of four-letter words. "They're telling me that I have to arm these things, they want to use MY creations to kill anyone who disagrees with them, or just doesn't see things the way they do. They challenged MY loyalty, simply because I consider it wrong to kill people on a whim!" His complaints degenerated into a sort of growl.

Mary stepped behind him, resting her hands on his shoulders. She had wondered a few times how Gerald had ended up working for GUN, given his views on violence. However, this seemed a rather poor time to bring that up. She began to rub lightly at the tension in his muscles. "Well," she pointed out reasonably, "these are supposed to be guard units for important areas. Perhaps they'd let you develop some sort of stun weapons? Then the robots could stop intruders before they could damage things or threaten anyone, while still leaving them unharmed for questioning or in case of mistaken identity. You could ask at least. After all, they'll get more information from a live prisoner than a dead body."

Gerald growled again, but without as much force. The tension seemed to be draining from his mind as she rubbed it out of his shoulders. He didn't like it - the military could replace the stunners with real weapons easily enough. But then, they could have added weapons to his designs themselves fairly easily as well. Perhaps, if he had the guard robots and vehicles built with stun bolts they'd let at least some of them remain, which would be that many fewer that were lethal. He was supposed to be designing things to help people! How had he ended up working for the military? He tipped his head back to look up at her. "I suppose you're right." He smiled and consciously relaxed his muscles. "What would I do without you?"

"Whatever you had to," Mary smiled back and leaned over to kiss his forehead. She determined privately to speak to the research head and try to get Gerald reassigned to the prosthetics department. It was more appropriate to both his talents and his ethics. Gerald, being Gerald, would never ask to be transferred, he'd just sit and steam until something blew; which left it up to her to try and avert disaster.

Gerald managed to hand in his revised designs, with the stunners built in to the units. In return, he received a transfer to the bio-prosthetics unit. Once again designing artificial limbs and extremities, utilizing the ultra-light materials Mary had replicated or created based off the Gizoid's components and trying to develop a micro-chaos drive to power them, he was much happier. He had always felt that the best use of technology was to improve people's lives. He was happier still when Mary delivered their son, Gerald Robotnik Jr.

Mary returned to the lab part-time about six months after Gerry was born. Money was not a problem, given the family wealth, but she missed her job. Gerry had a playpen in the corner of a lab full of fascinating things going whir and click. Things went well for almost two years until GUN asked that Mary be assigned to design the vehicles and robots she'd gotten Gerald out of designing. Their first big fight was over his disgust at her designing lethal military machines and her indignation at his actually forbidding her to accept the assignment. GUN further elevated the tension by requiring either an acceptance of the assignment from Mary or a resignation from the research division for both of them. Leaving the division for refusing an assignment would have ruined both scientists' reputations permanently. Gerald wasn't particularly concerned about his own reputation, but he could not in conscience require Mary to besmirch her own over his crisis of ethics. He conceded, and apologized for trying to control her decision. Mary sweetened the bitterness of his concession by informing him that their family was about to increase again. Three years later they returned to the ARK with two sons, Gerry and Ivan.

Gerald's first order of business was to recover the Gizoid. Its dark corner among the discarded parts had proved as good a hiding place for six years as thirty. Reinstalling the Chaos Emerald, the professor began to work with what he had learned from further studies of the tablet and the ancient language. The bond between master and robot was called a link. The scientist's initial plan was to form a link with the Gizoid, thereby removing the risk that another person might take over control of the robot and discover its weapon potential. If he could figure out how to form a link, at least. Rather to his shock, the Gizoid when powered up this time spoke - not the peculiar fragmented sounds it had made previously, but "Li..nnka, leeen...k". In similarly fractured syllables it continued, "Show me your true strength and I shall obey. I am all things and all shall belong to me." Rather amazed by the sudden ability to speak English, Gerald brought out models of a few of the stunning weapons he'd created for the GUN "Beetle" patrol robots. The Gizoid pondered them a moment then announced, "I shall follow your every command and never leave your side." Gerald was a bit dazed at the suddenness of it all, but at least he no longer had to worry what the other researchers might do with it. And as Mary pointed out that night, the robot was designed to adapt, and obviously had made use of its previous time in the lab to absorb and adapt to the English language. Gerald made the Gizoid a sort of laboratory assistant and then nearly quit his job entirely because of the next assignment he was given.

Someone had misread, misheard, or simply misunderstood the facts, in the chain from head researcher to President. The Commander of GUN had reported to the President that the Chaos Emerald was actually alive; it could enhance the life of plants and animals and bring machines to life. Inspired by such an amazing power the President had handed back the mandate that Gerald was to be assigned to research eternal life; for surely such a marvelous power could be harnessed to extend human life indefinitely. Gerald was appalled, for such an assignment clashed with his deepest views on life and morality. Immortality not only violated the natural order, it was something that no people were worthy of, and he feared that humans (for humans would never share this discovery with the dokan, he was sure) would abuse such a gift completely. He would design weapons before he'd strive for human immortality. The President and the Commander were not used to being told no; and the resultant battle of wills was intense. But at last Gerald, with coaching from Mary, managed to convince them that the reports they had received were flawed and what they wanted was impossible. He was then presented with an odd form of DNA and asked to see if he could identify it. Some strange creature had been found and they wanted to know what it was. This was intended to be a sign of his disgrace, he knew; but to use the Chaos Emeralds to live for ever? Never, he vowed.

**A/N: **As it turns out the dial-up here is a lot more reliable than my cable service was being the last few weeks. And really not too slow, either. So here's the end of Chapter 2. At the moment I'm roughing out 7. iii, so there's a good bit more to come.


	9. 3i The Shapeless Shapes

**A/N: ** This is the shortest part in the story, I think, as well as the shortest chapter, so you get both parts of Chapter 3 today. However brief, Chapter 3 is one of the key chapters in the story, as you will see:

3.i. The Shapeless Shapes

The brouhaha finally settled, and Gerald applied his talents - biological this time, rather than mechanical - to the strange DNA he'd been presented with. He first determined that it was not human, nor any of the dokan races. It also proved to be completely unlike any animal samples he could get hold of to compare it to. He was halfway convinced it was some sort of off-world alien sample by the time he managed to induce the cells to reproduce.

The cells were very strange; the sample itself was inert and had been presented in a stasis tube. This was fortunate because every attempt to grow them in broth or plate them out for culture was a complete failure. Normal agar, blood agar, various added or subtracted nutrients, with oxygen, without, micro-oxygen levels...all simply failed. The cells died. Until - and he always wondered that it took him so long - he took the chaos emerald and set that in the midst of his latest batch of trial cultures. And they grew, the strange cells reproducing in nearly all versions of the broth, and spreading across the surface of the plates. Even more incredibly, they began to merge together in a sort of multicelled amoeba - the barest of rudimentary life, but the cells did seem to be in some sort of communication with each other, phasing from one blobby shape to another and absorbing the nutrients in the broth. Gerald began to experiment with ways of controlling the amorphous matter.

Meanwhile the cells were not the only things growing. Gerald's sons grew and graduated high school; correspondence classes, combined with science and technology training from experts that no mainland school science class could match, resulted in impressive final grades. Gerry pursued an astronomy degree and married a charming young woman. Ivan, the younger, opted for business classes while he founded a business making hoverbikes, using his father's Chaos drives for power. He could make "extreme gear" that outstripped the competitors' models both in power and lightness. Mary had switched from creating metallic machines to working with Gerald's amoebic cells. She had discovered a way to combine the mutable cells with the chaos drives to produce a free-flowing liquid form of energy. The eerily glowing fluid, now acellular but still cohesive, like a slime mold, could be channeled through either specially-made pipes or magnetic fields to transport it from place to place without the electrical loss that could occur with power lines; and if it leaked, small amounts were harmless or even beneficial to surrounding flora and fauna. Large amounts were dangerous though, and one day Gerald heard the alarms going off and ran to her lab to find disaster. Mary had been working with a large reservoir of her liquid energy, suspended in a magnetic containment field so she could observe it from all sides. An experimental weapon in an adjacent lab had malfunctioned and in the process cut off all power to Building "G". The safeties designed to prevent total power loss in case of damage in a single lab were later found to be faulty and with the loss of power, the magnetic fields in Mary's lab were lost as well. Apparently Mary had been very close to, or even under the reservoir when the containment cut out. She had had no chance to flee. Gerald returned his experiments to stasis and flew back to the mainland with Mary's body, so the family could bury her together.

After the funeral he found he couldn't return to the lab - he couldn't seem to make himself do much of anything. He kept thinking of things he needed to ask her - hearing stories he couldn't wait to repeat to her - but there was no one to tell them to anymore. He knew distantly that he needed to do something, but life had no purpose anymore, even his experiments seemed uninteresting and pointless. And then once again his life changed forever. Three months after Mary died, he met Maria.


	10. 3ii Maria

ii. Maria

She actually had a goodly amount of hair, though it was so fair it was barely visible. Her eyes were an incredible blue even then. Her smile was happy but completely toothless. She was two days old, and his first grandchild. Gerald fell completely, utterly in love with this tiny creature. He would have given the world if necessary to see her smile again. Fortunately, he didn't have to. She seemed as fascinated by him as he was by her - or maybe it was his moustache. He goo-gooed and made faces and completely abandoned his dignity and she tried to pull out the funny hair on his face and gurgled at him. Maria led him out of his depression and although he returned to Kauai to continue his research at ARK, he called nightly to check on her and flew back to visit at least once a month.

The first thing he did was start a push for a new Alternate Research facility. There had been information leaks about some of the research - although not his - so clearly an island wasn't isolated enough. Also the destruction caused by the weapon malfunction, which had killed both of the scientists and two of the technicians working on it as well as causing Mary's death, proved that a better way of containing the more sensitive or hazardous experiments was needed. Gerald submitted plans to alter an asteroid by stages into a space-based laboratory. Mary's liquid energy, channeled throughout the base could power its own containment fields and provide each section with its own, isolatable source of power. If necessary, power to a particular area could be cut off quickly by simply blocking the flow of the fluid to that region. By digging the base into the stone of the asteroid, some walls could be left much thicker than could easily be built, providing much safer rooms for weapons testing by remote control and observation. The asteroid itself could provide many of the materials needed for the base's construction. The plan included several build stages, from a few chambers for testing and a handful of laboratories and dormitories up to the complete, fully-manned space colony. The plans were approved, and the construction begun on what would be a top secret space station officially known as Space Colony ARK to those who knew of it. Anyone not in the know would hear ARK and believe it referred to the Alternate Research facility on Kauai.

The plan was approved, an asteroid moved into a distant earth orbit, and construction begun. Gerald took himself, his protoplasmic blobs, and the Gizoid to monitor the construction of the second stage, and the channeling of the energy fluid. He had managed, by again referring to the Gizoid's unusual circuitry, to develop a prototype protean robot, which he called an "artificial Chaos" after the watery serpent he'd seen in the ancient echidnan pyramid. Powered by a chaos drive and wearing a special helmet shaped "brain" the android could shift itself from blob to "pillar" with extensible arms to grasp and restrain intruders while transmitting what it saw to the Space Colony's main security computer. At GUN's insistence, he augmented it with stun lasers (knowing full well that the military would exchange them for a more lethal version), on his own initiative, he gave them the ability to "seed" sending out miniature remote "heads" to serve as messengers or long range sensors. Unfortunately, he was unable to adapt them to be used in Earth's gravity, as they tended to melt into a puddle of blue goo. Gradually other researchers came to join him, most working on secret weapons deep in the Colony's stony basements. Gerald worried about the weapons - the thought of deliberately injuring, let alone killing another intelligent being was still repugnant, both ethically and medically. Illogical, perhaps, as part of the reason for the Space Colony's existence was to provide a safe place to test such destructive items, but... The Immortality investigation, now under the Codename of Project: Shadow, was trying fruitlessly to utilize chaos drives or the liquid energy to extend the life span of various animals; this also rankled, that the base he had designed and argued for was being used for what he considered immoral experiments. But there was another worry cropping up to distract him from his dismay over other people's research projects - Maria.

It had started innocently enough - two-year-olds often get colds from day-care or other public places, so he wasn't concerned when he made a belated birthday visit to find her a bit snuffly. Certainly the absolute delight and the way her whole face lit up as she squealed "Ganpa!" and flew across the room for a hug didn't suggest anything dire. The problem was the cold wouldn't go away. When the signs shifted to suggest a secondary infection, she was put on antibiotics, and the bacteria vanished quickly enough, but the virus lingered far longer than usual. It did clear, finally...and within a month she was down with a bright red skin rash, and went back on antibiotics. Before this course was over, the pediatrician had to add another drug to control a yeast infection. Gerald got back to Earth to see her shortly after the second round of medicines. His poor, beautiful granddaughter was a strange mottled pink from calamine lotion that was supposed to ease the itching, but the grin was as big (if now full of white teeth) and the eyes as blue as the day he first saw her. And if the pink stuff wouldn't wash out of his lab coat, well the greeting hug from Maria was worth the cost of replacing several mere items of cloth. He noticed though, that when she played with her toys or moved around the house, she seemed clumsier than usual. He soon realized that his son and daughter-in-law had noticed it too, but were denying it to themselves, rationalizing the stumbles and dropped toys with excuses - she's tired, the ground is uneven, the toy's wet so it's slippery. When he had to return to the Space Colony ARK, he went reluctantly, with a grim foreboding as a traveling companion. Two days after his return he got word that Maria was in the hospital, with an alarmingly high fever and a blood-borne infection. The doctors began running immunologic tests that revealed she had very little functional immune system, and a suspicious enzyme traveling through her system. The usual immunologic screens for SCIDS and lesser immune deficiencies had been done as an infant and been normal; the loss of a maturing immune system, plus the mild nerve damage, threw up red flags for a nastier type of disease altogether. The "usual" immune deficiencies could be treated in various ways, up to a bone marrow transplant that could "cure" the worst cases, but Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome could not. The culprit in this case was not the immune system itself, but the nerves, which began producing an aberrant enzyme that both hindered the nerves' own conduction and rendered the various white blood cells impotent. No way had been found yet to block only the aberrant enzyme without also blocking a similar one necessary to nerve function, and transfusions and transplants were of no help since the enzyme deactivated the donated cells as well. As the disease progressed, Maria would suffer more and more illnesses, as well as progressive loss of nerve function leading eventually to paralysis and death, if she did not die of an infection first. Gerald looked at the row of picture frames hung by his desk. Mary, his sons and their wives, and Maria - Maria as an infant, just able to sit up in a blue dress that matched her eyes, with her matching hairbow in her mouth; Maria learning to walk, grinning gleefully up at Gerald himself as she clung to his fingers; Maria smeared with chocolate icing as she ate cake at her second birthday party.

Gerald knew what the results would be before he got the message from his son that they were running the NIDS test. The thought whispered around the edges of his mind, _An immortal life form must possess infinite regeneration capabilities._ No. It was wrong. They would misuse the research..._An immortal life form must also have innate correction of aberrant chemicals. _He had had several colleagues back on ARKauai that were certain that all life really _was_ was chemicals produced by cells: proteins, fats, the matrices that supported and bound them together. Mary had gone to battle with several of them verbally, arguing that life was more than mere chemistry. Gerald agreed with her, but it was true enough that some cancers and many other diseases developed due to erroneous chemical production at the cellular or genetic level. _An immortal life form_ -NO, he mustn't think it!_ An immortal life form_ - he jerked himself out of his chair and stamped down the corridor trying to block out the whisper, and stopped at the window that showed the blue planet spread out so far below him. Blue, like Maria's eyes... _An immortal life form could provide the means to save Maria's life_. He bowed his head, feeling tears prick under his closed eyelids._ Help me God. This is WRONG_. But he knew, in his heart of hearts that if (_IF? is there any doubt?_), if the tests came back confirming NIDS, he would take the assignment. He could do it, he knew; and he would, for Maria's sake. He had no choice, he would sacrifice his own beliefs for the chance of saving her life. Despite what GUN and the politicians might do with his research... _May God have mercy on all of us._ She was worth his life, she was worth his soul.

A week later the letter arrived. Gerald made the call. No one ever did question his sudden change of mind.


	11. 4i Sunlight in Space and Shadows

4.i. Sunlight in Space - and Shadows

Gerald was pacing back and forth outside the docking bay as nervously as any expectant father in a maternity ward. It seemed to be taking an eternity for the shuttle to dock and the tube to be sealed around the door. What if something had gone wrong? What if she'd gotten worse? What if.. "Grandfather!" Gerald spun around in time to be hit around the waist by thirty pounds of delighted granddaughter. Automatically he scooped her high, meeting her ear-to-ear grin with one of his own, even as his eyes looked anxiously for some sign of illness.

"She seems to be fine at the moment, Dad." Gerald pulled his gaze from his granddaughter to see Jerry, his elder son, standing with a suitcase in one hand an a box under the other arm. "But I'm not sure how long it'll last..." He looked with worried eyes at the three-year-old who was now pretending to braid Gerald's moustache. "The doctors say that the stumbles will keep getting worse each time, and she'll keep getting sick. That's," he indicated the child's right arm, "where they gave her a plasma transfusion for antibodies to fight off her last cold; it should last a few more days, they say."

Gerald nodded vaguely, looking at the small bandage on Maria's arm. "Are those her things? Bring them on this way." To Maria, "Let's go see your new room, sweetheart." He shifted her to one arm and led the way down the corridor. She looped her arms around his neck and leaned her golden head against his cheek.

He had arranged Maria's rooms in a newly constructed portion of the ARK, away from the main corridors, moving his own near them. They had been sterilized and he had modified two of the maintenance bots to constantly patrol the room and clean it. There was only one entrance to the hall, which was punctuated by special lights that were designed to kill bacteria and viruses; the air was ultra-filtered for the same purpose. Maria's room also had a special niche in which he intended to station the Gizoid at night, hoping that the Chaos Emerald would have the same enhancing effect on her that it had on his research animals. The only other rooms on the hall were his own, his private lab, and a guest room for when her parents visited. The bedrooms each had attached baths; carving them out of the asteroid had meant extra digging, but the Gizoid had turned out to be very effective at excavation work.

Maria's things were passed through a sanitizer into the hall and she, her father and her grandfather passed through an archway lined with the special lights into her new home. Her blue eyes looked curiously around. She frowned at the bare sealed-stone walls, her pale brows drawing together. "Grandfather? There aren't any pictures."

"You'll have to draw me some; then I'll hang them on the wall for everyone to see them."

"Are there a lot of people here? Can I see them?"

" Not just yet, my dear. They're very busy, and we have to make sure you're done being sick."

"Oh." There was a pause and a more thoughtful frown, then "Grandfather? Can you make me well again?"

Gerald found himself at a loss for a reply. He didn't want to give her a glib assurance, even as young as she was; she was bright enough to know that she was sick in a different way than the other children she knew and aware to some degree of the severity of her illness. Her father cleared his throat, his eyes glistening suspiciously. "I'm going to try, love," Gerald answered at last. "I'm going to do everything I can to make you well again."

"Good," replied the child with an assurance Gerald wished he could share. "Then I can meet everybody and make friends with them." She then gave him that marvelous grin, and suddenly he was as certain as she that everything would be all right. Maria's personality shone as brightly and warmly as sunlight in the steel and stone of the Space Colony ARK.

After settling Maria in her room, and her father in the adjacent guest room, Gerald paced thoughtfully back to his lab. Gerry would only be staying a day or two to be sure Maria settled in all right. Gerald wanted to see as much of him as possible, but he'd have to remember to check on his experiments as well. Speaking of experiments...

He glanced at the jars of blue goo on the shelves above his desk as he pulled a sheet of paper from the analyzer. He'd fed the most recent samples from the research animals in this morning before going down to await Maria's arrival. Strictly speaking, his current project was not really contributing to immortality research at all; although he had contrived a plausible explanation if anyone ever asked. And he was collecting good baseline info on both his selected species of parthenogenic lizards and several lines of congenitally immune-suppressed rats. The third group of test animals were also rats, but these had been normal until the daily administration of NIDS toxin had altered both immune response and nerve function.

Sitting down at the computer Gerald pulled up the notes on Project: Shadow. He'd given the project that name in part because the lighting of the ARK was designed to prevent shadows, and also because in the vastness of space there was relatively little on which to project a shadow; thus making shadows as unlikely as immortality. He added the results from the analyzer and noted that the animals treated with the "luminescent blue gelatinous substance" definitely had strengthened immune responses compared to the control groups. Some actually had normal results. He rubbed his nose absent-mindedly; for some reason it wouldn't stop itching today. Then he saved the file and started pulling down the jars of blue goo.

He knew what the stuff could do to animals; he'd been running tests in the Project : Shadow lab for almost three months. Now he needed to know what it could do to humans. This "stuff" was what he had pinned his hopes on for short term maintenance of Maria's health; the duration of the health enhancement was short, but easily and safely repeatable. Measuring immune response was tricky, a normally functioning system usually demonstrated no change, but the immune-suppressed rats had shown dramatic boosts in both antibody titers and actual challenge tests with various diseases. Those rats receiving the NIDS toxin not only demonstrated the immune boosts but temporary amelioration of the toxin's effects. Measuring non-immune types of healing was simple enough, however.

He pulled out two sealed-sterile instruments - a tongue depressor, which he unwrapped and used to scoop out a glob of the faintly glowing glop - and a scalpel blade. He peeled the package open and removed the blade. Gritting his teeth, he slashed the blade across his forearm near the outside of his elbow. Hissing at the pain, he stood with his arm over the trash can, watching the blood run across his arm. Wrinkling his nose, which was itching again (_why does it always itch when I can't scratch it?_), he made a second slice, cutting across the first at an angle. Then he dropped the blade on the table and picked up the tongue depressor, slapping the goo on about two-thirds of the injury. The pain from the treated portions of the cuts vanished immediately, and as the blue stuff slid down across his arm and dropped off into the receptacle below, it revealed skin that was not only no longer bleeding but not even scarred. He applied the remainder of the goo to the rest of the cut, then washed his arm clean. Not even the faintest sign of the blade cuts remained. He moved over to his computer and noted this down. Then he removed from the first aid drawer a gauze pad and wrap. Using a new tongue depressor he smeared more of the goo on the gauze and used the wrap to fasten it to his other arm. He knew brief contact with the goo was harmless, now he had to evaluate prolonged skin contact.

_The problem_, he mused, _is how to utilize the healing... - I really need a better name than goo or glop - economically. _It wasn't so much a problem of expense as of time. The stuff was extremely effective, even diluted in various solvents, but addition of fluids tended to make it run which could reduce the contact time needed for healing. However, it was very slowly produced from a combination of the energy fluid and a variation of the cells used in the Artificial Chaos robots. He needed a better way to extend it. He sneezed abruptly and unexpectedly on the computer screen. _Oh great. Now where did I leave the wipes._ He rummaged in the drawer for the anti-static wipes to clean the monitor... And stopped. _Vapor. Mist. Fluid droplets in the air. No dilution of effect but the ability to cling where larger droplets would run. Do we have a nebulizer? Where?_ Professor Gerald jumped out of his chair, took two steps towards the door, turned back long enough to give the monitor a swipe that probably did more to smear it than clean it, then spun back around and ran through the halls to the maintenance stores. There had been a problem early on with maintaining adequate humidity in the halls. Since installation of algae tanks for humidity and oxygen and additional humidifiers to monitor the air passing through the conditioning cycle it was mostly under control, and the temporary portable sort of humidifiers had been put into storage. _But I thought...there was that one shipment that was the wrong item. And I _know_ we never throw anything - Aha! _He reached up and pulled down a box. Now if he could modify it to do what he wanted...

It took two weeks to get the right balance of nebulized healing goo and air. By then Gerald had proved to his satisfaction that he, at least, had no deleterious effects from prolonged contact with it, or inhaling the vapor form of it. He had isolated himself in Maria's wing as some sort of cold virus seemed to be making the rounds of the researchers, and was NOT going to risk exposing her to it. He did however send an adapted nebulizer over with instructions and a jar of goo. One of his fellow researchers set it up in an internal air lock (in case of damage to the Space Colony that exposed part of the corridors to space, the internal locks would allow repair crews to travel to the affected areas while protecting unbreached areas) adjacent to the sick bay and essentially filled the small space with the vaporized goo. A group of volunteers - most of whom had active colds - had joined him in the lock prior to the activation of the nebulizer. After twenty minutes of standing in and breathing the mist, they turned off the machine and scrubbed the walls, floor and ceiling clean. They then reported to sick bay where it was proved that none of the treated personnel retained any live virus. The checks were made every two hours for the next two days and no virus was detected in any of the researchers. One of the other researchers absconded with the machine and set it up in a shower stall, and by the end of the day there was no one left with an active cold in the entire facility. There was also very little leftover healing goo.

Gerald now focused on developing an automated production method and developed the earliest form of his famous Heal Unit: a force field container, powered by the mist it contained, that could be easily ruptured to release a burst of mist that could heal many injuries and diseases. The Heal Unit generator, fed by Mary's liquified chaos energy, refined the fluid into healing mist and generated the initial field to surround it. He located several of these around the ARK, including one at the entrance to Maria's wing, and the child was finally free to visit other areas of the colony.

She had tolerated the weekly monitoring of her blood cell counts far better than Gerald would have. The Heal Units did appear to bolster her immune system and the nervous faults nearly disappeared; after the installation of the Heal Units the counts were reduced to monthly. She had been warned that they'd have to take more blood again if she did not remember to throw one of the blue bubbles at the wall every time she came back to her hall, and the three-year-old remembered her instructions far better than Gerald had expected. He did have to step in once when he caught her throwing the unit simply for the fun of watching the blue spray, but on the whole she was surprisingly responsible about the new therapy.

Maria had good reason to remember as hard as she could, and be responsible. For all the toys in her room, it was boring, and once she'd papered the hall with drawings that Gerald dutifully hung, she wanted something else to do. It was much more fun to run around the base and look at things, and talk to people than it was to be stuck in her room and hall. She was the sort of child that loved everyone, and even the surliest of the researchers found it difficult to rebuff her - not that a rebuff had any long-term effect. In fact anyone who did snap at her was likely to find a hand-drawn picture outside their door the next time they went through it, or later, a few flowers. Most of the researchers had children, or nieces and nephews, at home and welcomed the golden-haired child as a substitute during their tour on the ARK. She went everywhere except the deep testing rooms and was the instigator of a few non-practical changes to the research colony's routines. The hydroponics lab, which had both research rooms and a general garden where vegetables and herbs were grown, added a few trays of purely ornamental flowers. Maria was given (most of) the responsibility for taking care of the flower garden. While she was not always punctual about remembering to care for them, she took great pride and delight in delivering bouquets to the cafeteria and the main social room of the ARK, as well as delivering flowers to people she considered in need of cheering up, or just those she liked. Gerald's room and her own always had one or two flowers in a vase, and she made certain that Grandfather always got the prettiest ones of the day.


	12. 4ii The Next Step

ii. The Next Step

Gerald was pleased to see Maria becoming the pet of the facility, and more pleased that she did reserve her brightest smiles and prettiest flowers for him. What pleased him most was that she seemed nearly normal health-wise; the treatment he had developed was far more effective than what the doctors on Earth had been able to offer, stopping or even reversing the disease instead of merely slowing its progress. However, he remained all too aware that the Heal Units were a temporary therapy, and the Servers seemed to work no better on Earth than the vaguely related Artificial Chaos robots did. He had decided to start among some of the lower classes of animals for his immortality research. Many fish and reptiles lived for considerable lengths of time and a number of lizards had the ability to regenerate tails, or more rarely, even limbs they had lost. Fish in quantity were not really feasible on the ARK, but he had managed to set up a few tanks of starfish - a single arm, with an implanted bit of nerve tissue, could regrow into an entire starfish. The presence of the chaos emerald, or a gadget he had created that radiated energy generated by chaos drives could do the same without the nerve disk.

He was no longer working alone either, the importance of the project had resulted in him being assigned a team of researchers. One, a geneticist, had isolated a set of genes in the chaos cells that seemed to collect and focus chaos energy. He and Gerald spliced it into a set of lizard embryos and carefully incubated the eggs. They used the _Cnemidophorus_ lizards he had chosen for the Heal Unit research; as an entirely female race, the Desert Grassland Whiptails have fairly homogenous genes (barring spontaneous mutations, individual specimens are clones of their mother), and he had good data on both normal and immune-altered specimens. The "chaos lamp" as his drive-powered radiator had been nicknamed, shared space on top of the cage with the UV lamp. About half of the embryos failed to develop, for various reasons which were duly recorded after necropsy; the remaining eight hatched into normal-looking lizards. Two refused to eat, one dying of dehydration and starvation as it burned up its remaining yolk sac despite attempts to feed it (also recorded in detail after necropsy), the other also refusing attempts to force-feed it but gaining weight and growing along with the rest of the clutch. The other six turned their attentions gleefully to the tiny crickets and mealworms (beheaded, as Gerald had discovered the things had a nasty bite and didn't want the dinner eating the lizards) and grew apace. Actually two grew more than apace and by the end of the third month those two and the one that had never yet been seen eating were nearly twice the length and bulk of the others.

Those three were separated from the others and tests indicated they had the most response to and absorption of chaos energy. Two others also absorbed the energy but what their bodies did with it was unclear. The last three showed no evidence of either the energy absorption or the genes that should have been commingled with their own. Gerald focused on the three with the best response, labeling them "active" Chaos lizards due to their bodies' utilization of the energy, while turning the others over to his fellow researchers. The plan was to see if the genes were passed on in the ones that had absorbed them, and try modifying the eggs of the ones that had not transformed. The researchers also had hopes that the "passive" Chaos lizards might show enhanced lifespans. But at this point they were useless to Gerald, who was still more interested in the healing applications that might prove of benefit to Maria.

The active Chaos lizards were kept apart, in a separate lab with the original chaos lamp. They had ID numbers, befitting their experimental status, but Maria - who loved looking at the animals but had no idea of their potential importance to her own future - named them Izzy, Lizzy and Fred. Lizzy got to be about two feet long and then started showing signs of distress; neither Gerald nor the other researchers had ever seen any indication that she was eating, although she had been observed to drink on occasion. Gerald realized that the chaos lamp was no longer producing much output. A fresh drive, and Lizzy started thriving anew. The trio were now all three times the normal size for their species.

Over the next five years, a number of other splicing experiments were attempted with various lizard species and even a few rats. They managed, in fact, to get one of the rats to regrow a surgically removed tail; the others were either a (genetically) immune-suppressed variety and or receiving the NIDS toxin. The chaos DNA had variable effects, a few ended up with nearly normal function despite their faulty genetics, the rest had lesser effects except for one that remained completely immune-suppressed and one which died of the NIDS toxin. Maria, now 8, put an end to the physical healing tests by stealing Silver, the rat whose tail had been docked. She knew the ARK's systems well enough to cut the cameras off in the research lab for just long enough to accomplish the deed - and cut them back on before the security could become alarmed by the absence. She hid her prize quite well for nearly two weeks of frantic searching on behalf of her grandfather and his team - rats loose in a space station were no joke; if the escapee chewed the wrong cable there might be serious consequences. Gerald only found out what had become of his subject when Maria came running into his office to show him that Silver's tail was now back to half its original length. After a lecture that was perhaps not as severe as it ought to have been, Silver's cage was transferred into Maria's room - and soon attached to a rather larger play area so he'd have a "safe" area to explore. He was hers on the condition that he STAY in his area and not be allowed to run loose.

Meanwhile Maria's play area had also expanded considerably. After several reporters asked a few too many questions about secret space flights, the space version of the Alternate Research had been expanded into a proper Space Colony. The medical wing was expanded and new researchers invited to study weightless and reduced-gravity therapies. The living quarters were vastly expanded and the population increased to about 500 people, mostly with jobs related to running and maintaining the colony, or individuals researching space and how to live in it. Maria and Gerald had both been pleased when Gerald Jr. and his wife Angela managed to get permission to come. They had gotten up to the ARK only twice since Maria had moved up there and much as she loved "taking care of Grandfather" she missed her parents too.

As for the original Chaos lizards: the ones that had not "accepted" the gene splice produced most of the subsequent research eggs and died at a not unexpected 4-5 years of age. The passive Chaos lizards, including those from subsequent altered clutches, all proved to be sterile; they laid eggs but those eggs never reached an embryonated stage. The active Chaos lizards were normally fertile. Both types exhibited enhanced healing and appendage regeneration - the actives faster than the passives - but as the average lifespan was 4½ to 7 years, it was still too soon to determine if they would outlive the norm for the species. The active chaos lizards had also all ended up about 4 times the size of the passives which were the normal length for the species (two-three inches of body plus three times that length of tail). The exception was the one that had still, in over five _years_, never been seen to actually eat. Maria had changed Lizzy's name, deciding it sounded too childish (a solemn pronouncement made at the grand old age of five) and renamed her Biolizard "because she's a lizard in a biogolical experiment." Gerald had pointed out that the other lizards were also biological experiments which earned him a pitying look and the explanation that "_Grand_father, they can't_ all _be named Biolizard." Gerald had nodded meekly and agreed that no, they couldn't all have the same name, while the other researchers smothered their laughter in the background.

Since that time, whether due to her new name or not the Biolizard had grown to the body size of a young alligator, retaining a whiptail's proportionate tail length while adding an uncommon length to her neck as well. Her legs, however, had not strengthened in proportion to her growth; she could barely stand up, and was unable to walk, but she could slither with the speed of a snake when she chose to. She had been transferred to a special room with a sunken floor. The door opened onto a railed walkway that encircled the central stone-cut pit, with a gated ladder leading down. A ring of chaos lamps edged the walkway providing both light and nourishment to the creature. After excavating this new room, the Gizoid mostly divided its time between assisting Gerald in the main labs and helping to expand the colony, but occasionally Gerald brought it in to help with the Biolizard. Unfortunately, although the Professor duly entered in the Project: Shadow notes that the creature had occasional fits of aggression, he failed to realize that such fits only occurred in the Gizoid's presence.


	13. 4iii The Black Comet Cometh

iii. The Black Comet Cometh

For now though, both Maria and Gerald had other things to think about. Gerry and his wife were coming up on the next shuttle, and Ivan was coming as well, "with a fabulous surprise, I hope". Once again Gerald was hovering around the docking bay; vaguely amazed at the expansion of the area since he'd been there last. He had made a point of walking the halls and corridors of the newly extended colony, but hadn't been in this area since the public expansion. He was hovering rather than pacing because in spite of the increased size, there were a fair number of other people also awaiting the shuttle's arrival. Maria had no such constraints and her small form darted and wove through the crowd with an ease that her grandfather could only admire. All at once she stopped short and came sliding back through the crowd to clutch his hand. "They're here Grandfather! They really came!"

"Did you think they would change their minds, my dear?" Gerald grinned down at her even as he saw the lights at the far end of the bay start to flash. He couldn't hear anything himself, but Maria's younger ears probably could hear the vessel as it moved through the ARK's "fizz field". That one was _not_ one of his inventions, although it was powered by the energy fluid near the ARK and chaos drives on the perimeter. It kept enough air close in that humans could travel with minimal protection from cold and decompression along the surface of the ARK; breathing masks, although strongly recommended, were not absolutely necessary. Further out from the colony asteroid it was not dense enough to breathe (although the designer felt that dokans would be able to breathe out there, as they absorbed and used oxygen more efficiently than humans) but the main purpose was to provide radiation shielding and a safety net for workers in case of accidents - they couldn't live indefinitely out in the fizz field, but between the Ark and the perimeter boundaries it held enough air to prevent immediate decompression and asphyxiation, and also enough heat to prevent them being flash frozen in case of a suit tear. In other words, if there was an accident, there was now a much better chance of rescue, which improved morale immensely. A variation of the field was now set across the mouth of the shuttle bay, permitting the shuttles to pass in and out while keeping most of the air in - much more efficient than the old bay doors which had wasted colossal amounts of air. The old doors were now only closed for maintenance or if there was a meteor threat. A new transport system had been set up that actually passed through a series of bays and out into space between them, making use of the field in the same manner, although double airlock doors were installed in case of emergency. Powered by the same "rail" of channeled energy fluid that they ran along, a series of monorail platforms hauled material from the shuttle bays to other areas without impeding traffic in the corridors.

But now the shuttle was settling onto its wheels and the crowd was pressing forward against the rails that kept them back from the landing area. Gerald allowed Maria to drag him forward to the fence but caught her around the waist as she clambered up onto it. "Grandfather! I wasn't going over it!" He ignored her indignant comment and retained his hold. After an eternal pause, the door opened and the ramp extended and people began to disembark. Maria was now bouncing on the rail hard enough that one foot slipped and she would have fallen if Gerald hadn't been already holding on to her. She didn't even notice, automatically bracing the foot back on the rail as she began waving both arms at her parents as they came down the ramp.

Once the passengers got to the fence the gate was opened. By the time the swirl of new arrivals and resident friends had sorted itself out, Gerald and Maria had been joined not only by Maria's parents but by Ivan as well, who dropped an odd-shaped bundle at his feet long enough to hug his father. Gerald gave the bundle a curious look, wondering if it was the promised surprise.

"That's Maria's surprise, Dad," laughed Ivan catching the glance. "_This,_"he reached back and pulled forward a red-haired young woman, "is your surprise. I think you may have heard me mention Katherine once or twice." The tall young man smirked as he said that, knowing full well that his letters to Gerald had spoken of little else BUT Katherine McConnell for the last several months. "But I don't believe I mentioned that she'd agreed to marry me." He grinned broadly as Gerald first hugged him again, then hugged the young woman and kissed her cheek.

"She agreed to marry you?" exclaimed Gerry in exaggerated shock. "What did you do to the poor girl - threaten to push her off a roof if she didn't agree?" However his greeting to Katherine was friendly enough. As Angela greeted Katherine he turned back to Gerald. "But we brought you a surprise as well, Dad." He gestured grandly towards the crowd of new arrivals. A sudden swirl of motion and startled exclamations drew Gerald's attention and he managed to not quite gape as he saw Rafe and Todd emerge from the crowd of humans.

"Happy birthday!" announced the sable hedgehog. He hesitated a moment, then added "Sorry - Jenny gave me a kiss to give you, but you'll just have to take my word for it. Or maybe..." He looked at Maria who had wriggled away from her parents to gaze at the dokan. She'd heard all about Rafe and the others from Gerald - some of her favorite stories were about his exploring the Echidnan temples - but she had never actually met any dokan. "You must be Maria." At her solemn nod, Rafe continued, "Will you give something to your grandfather for me?" Receiving a second nod he rose on tiptoe and kissed her cheek, eliciting a giggle. "My wife sent that to him, but I can't quite deliver it myself, you see." With another giggle Maria skipped over to Gerald and pulled him down to kiss _his_ cheek. Then she turned back to the dokan and shed both solemnity and speechlessness, chattering questions like a magpie. As the rest of the crowd seemed to be ready to stare at the fox and hedgehog all day, Gerald decided to set an example by waving his family and friends towards the door. He had set up a new Heal Unit server in the main room of the younger Robotniks' quarters, and Maria had had great fun setting up her family's new "house"; she'd be staying with them now unless she got sick again. Gerald had also snagged as-yet-unoccupied quarters two doors down for the duration of Ivan's visit; fortunately it was also a family unit, as he had not anticipated Katherine's visit. He had no idea if they wanted separate rooms or would share one, but the extra was there if they wanted it. As for the dokan... he settled them into his own wing, one in Maria's former room and one in the guest room.

Maria was thrilled to be back with her parents and she got on well with the dokan - "like a house afire" was one phrase Gerry heard when Maria was returned, filthy but completely unrepentant from an area she shouldn't have been in to start with; she had gone exploring with Todd and they'd decided to see what lay past the barricades. Part of what lay past the barricades was a not-yet-shored wall of loose rubble, which had come down around the pair when she failed to steer her skates quite where she had intended to go.

"But Daddy, I needed a long hallway to try out Uncle Ivan's gift, and like Uncle Todd said, there weren't any _signs_ saying Keep Out, " Todd, who along with Rafe had been declared an honorary uncle, made a brief attempt to back her up, then caught Gerry's look and retreated, trying to brush the grit out of his fur. Gerry confiscated Maria's new hoverskates, sent her on to her room and called Gerald to ask him to ask Todd to please NOT encourage his daughter to get into trouble. Not that he was really mad. When he and Angela had sent Maria up to the ARK they had been hoping against hope for just a temporary reprieve - seeing his daughter essentially normal was beyond anything they had hoped for, and Maria happy and getting into mischief was simply a miracle. He was also enjoying the chance to spend time with Ivan and his fiancée, not to mention seeing his father happy again. He and Ivan had both been worried after their mother died, but Maria seemed to have revived her grandfather. She had that effect on a lot of people, he'd noticed. She seemed to know absolutely everyone on the ARK, and vice versa - although as she had been until recently the only child in the base, the latter was perhaps not too surprising. The dokan seemed to have fallen under her spell as well, which amused him. He found the nonhumans a bit strange, but he rather liked them. The family had made one trip down south before Mary had died and he remembered Jenny's kindness and Rafe's casual insolence with fondness; he'd even been taken up in the Flying Fox by Todd. He hadn't been back since, but he and Angela corresponded with a couple of astronomers on the southern continent. Ivan for some reason had always been more wary of the dokan, but he covered it well and Katherine, who had not met any until they all arrived at the ARK, seemed to be as fascinated by them as Maria So altogether it was a very cheerful group that had gathered for Gerald's 60th birthday. Katherine, Ivan, and the dokan stayed for two weeks, and Gerald took the longest vacation he'd had since arriving on the ARK.

The day after the actual party, Ivan, Katherine, and the dokan left for Earth; Gerald returned to work on Project: Shadow; and Maria got to start actual school, as there were now nearly two dozen children on the ARK. She'd liked being tutored by her grandfather, but she couldn't remember ever having friends her own age. She made friends with them, and they all got along well, but somehow she ended up outside the cliques that quickly formed. One group of girls who were at least several years older than she giggled over photos of movie stars and singers, and tried on each other's makeup trying to look grown up. The other group made up of girls Maria's age or a bit younger, traded fashions for their dolls and just generally were interested in things she wasn't. So she spent a lot of her time after school in the lab with Gerald, or sometimes in her old room with Silver. Her mother actually found the grey hooded rat a rather appealing creature, but her father had put his foot down and refused to let her bring Silver into their quarters. The other girls had decided it was fashionable to pretend terror when they saw him, silly things. Only Dorothy, a year older than Maria, actually bothered to get to know him; and even Dorothy would squeal if any of the other girls were around. The boys were fascinated with the rat when she took him in to show at school, but they were mostly too old to bother with girls, or at least girls her age. The exception was a boy a few years younger than she, with odd, mismatched eyes. He was an only child and his parents seemed to be often too busy to spend much time with him, so Maria decided he needed a big sister and put herself in that role. He tended to be rather a brat at times, but he did like Silver, and was interested in the other animals in the labs. Gerald conceived a liking for the boy himself, although the lad had a distressing tendency to jump to a conclusion and cling to it despite evidence to the contrary.

Maria's parents had officially applied to come up to Space Colony ARK because as astronomers they could benefit from the much clearer view that space telescopes had over ground-based ones. Angela Robotnik was primarily researching the historical formation of the solar system, while Gerald Robotnik Jr. was more interested in tracking near-Earth bodies, mainly asteroids - which was how his father had been able to so-conveniently suggest the particular one to build the ARK into - but also comets that might pass through or near Earth's orbit. At the moment one of those comets was again nearing the planet. It had various names in various languages, but after the first view of it through a telescope it had been officially named the Black Comet. Most comets were fairly light-colored "dirty snowballs", but the nucleus of this one was black, enough so that the earliest studies were unable to determine a size for it. Although the tail was clearly visible, it wasn't until astronomers had applied other means than visible light telescopy that anyone had been able to determine its size. Infrared telescopes had also revealed that the nucleus was unusually warm. And there were other oddities about it as well, Gerald learned.

He was having dinner with the family and conversation had turned to the upcoming expedition that was being organized to go visit the Black Comet.

"So it's dark colored and apparently too warm?" was Gerald's question as he accepted a slice of (slightly lopsided) cake that Maria had made "almost by herself".

"That's only the beginning, Dad. I dug through about three thousand years of astronomical records, right back to the Babylonians, and it's really weird. You know that most comets have a pretty regular cycle of appearance when their orbits bring them back past the planet. Well this one...varies." Gerry tasted his dessert, grinned at his daughter, who was watching anxiously, and continued. "For starters, it just sort of - appeared. About twenty-three hundred years ago, the first records turn up. Before that, nothing. It's not uncommon of course to have gaps in the records, but even during settled periods when even some remarkably faint "bearded stars" or "divine fires" were recorded, they can all be identified as other comets, with not a one missing, EXCEPT the Black Comet.

"Also it's got a "usual" period of 53 years, but sometimes it seems to have turned up late - and by "late" I mean a decade or even two - and in a few cases never showed at all. And those absences were in times of good record-keeping. Even stranger was the time it turned up thirty years early. It's not like a comet can just decide to take a shortcut!"

"Hmmm," was Gerald's response. "And I assume there weren't any planetary conjunctions that might have shifted the orbit to account for the delayed returns?"

"Nothing. I checked it six ways from Sunday, Dad. It's almost like the thing's traveling under its own power sometimes."

That got Maria's attention. "Maybe it's really a spaceship Daddy, and its all full of little purple aliens that want to eat our brains!"

"Maria!" Angela looked at her daughter in shock. "Where did you get an idea like that?"

"Mokie was telling me about this movie he saw." Maria scraped the last bit of icing off her plate, totally unconcerned. "May I have another piece cake, Mommy?"

"Mokie? Who's that?" Angela picked up her daughter's plate and placed a thin slice of cake on it.

"Thank you, Mommy. He's the boy with the funny eyes, like in _Summer Pony _where the horse had one blue eye and one brown and they called it Mokie. So I call him Mokie when he's being a pest."

"He's younger than you are. His parents let him watch movies like that?"

Maria frowned. "I don't think they really care what he watches. Sometimes," she added thoughtfully, "I don't think they really like him much. So that's why I 'dopted him. 'Sides he likes Silver."

There was a pause in the conversation at that point, and the adults didn't return to the subject of the comet until Maria had been tucked into bed. Gerald brought the conversation back to the planned trip. Gerry explained, " Basically we've got two goals: one, to get out there and look at a comet in its dormant state, before it's close enough to the sun to start ejecting dust and gas; two, we want to leave a probe on the surface to send back data on what happens as the comet gets close enough to develop its tail. We'll probably lose the probe before the comet hits perihelion, but if we're really lucky it'll last and we can keep getting readings as the comet moves away again.

"It's still four years out at this point, so it should be solid enough to land on and get some cores and surface samples. Angie, of course, is hoping that we can learn some details on how the thing was formed that might shed some light on the history of the solar system in general." He ran through a list of the rest of the crew - two other astronomers and the actual shuttle pilots, then concluded, "We were hoping we might be able to talk you into looking after Maria while we're gone?" His expression suggested it was a foregone conclusion, as indeed it was. Which was why barely six months after moving into her "house" in the colony section of the ARK, Gerry and Angela were helping Maria move some of her things back to her old room. And two days after that Gerald and Maria were standing in the dock again, waving the shuttle goodbye. Maria had said a cheerful goodbye to her parents - they'd be gone a month or so, but she'd get to look after Grandfather again, as well as Silver and Mokie.

Then about two weeks after the shuttle left for the Black Comet, Maria was called out of class and did not return. As soon as school let out Mokie ran through the corridors to her room, only to find the whole wing closed. A sign on the door to Gerald and Maria's quarters bore the alarming words "While we appreciate your sympathy, we wish privacy at the current time." He knocked on the door anyway, but had to leave Maria's homework on the floor by the door, where several envelopes and a few flowers had already been placed. When he got back to his family's empty quarters, he turned on the colony news and learned that the shuttle that had been sent out to investigate the Black Comet had unexpectedly exploded. All aboard were believed to be dead.

**A/N: ** Thanks for the reviews, they are much appreciated. The story currently runs through part 7iii, so there's plenty more ready to post. It will probably go to 9 chapters but that may change as I go. I plan to keep posting twice a week until I catch up to where I am in my writing or reach the end.


	14. 4iv An Unexpected Messenger

iv. An Unexpected Message

The shock of the shuttle's loss reverberated through the space colony. The colony was still small enough that most people knew each other, so this was a sudden loss of friends and colleagues, not vague strangers. For Gerald and Maria it was worse, as it was for all the actual relatives of the victims. It was both a comfort and an irritant to encounter people trying to be sympathetic, so many of the families immured themselves in their quarters for a few days until the first blaze of pain had dulled. Cards and small gifts piled up outside each door in silent sympathy.

The abruptness of the event had reminded Gerald all too sharply of Mary's death; new grief revived old and renewed the specter of fear that he'd lose his granddaughter as well. As for Maria, she may have lived apart from her parents for more than half her brief life, but she loved them no less for that and the loss of both together was a stunning blow. In her distress, she grew careless for the first time and neglected her treatment; the cessation of Heal Unit therapy combined with the severe distress of her loss sent her immune system function plummeting. Unfortunately the most recent arrivals had brought up a flu virus that had not yet been contained or eliminated by the infirmary Heal Unit server, and Maria had been exposed.

Gerald had sent her back to school a week after the accident, realizing that they were merely feeding each other's grief and knowing that she needed the contact with other people. He also wanted the privacy to follow up on a strong feeling that the "accident" was not so accidental, without distressing her further. She'd barely been back a week when he had to rush to the classrooms because the child had collapsed in class. He had been preoccupied enough with his own grief and suspicions that he hadn't noticed she'd lapsed in her therapy and the two weeks' neglect had permitted the NIDS toxins to demolish her immune system again. Maria had not only the influenza virus but two secondary infections as well, all of which had run rampant in a body with nearly no defenses. The speed of onset was appalling, and while a Heal Unit could bolster an immune system to destroy viruses and bacteria with amazing speed, it could not provide an immune system where there was none. Until the NIDS toxins were reduced and the inactivated white cells replaced, there was nothing to stop the infections. The doctors in the sickbay started IV antibiotics and fluids and hoped they could control the infections long enough for the Heal Units to clear the toxins. They sent out a plea for plasma donors and nearly the entire lot of researchers turned up to volunteer. Infusions of antibody-rich plasma curbed the infections enough to allow her crippled immune system time to regenerate. Slowly Maria recovered, awaking to find Gerald camping on a cot in her room and her uncle and new aunt also back on the ARK. She told Ivan solemnly, if a bit faintly, that it was very good that they had come, because she wasn't sure what Grandfather would do without someone to take care of him, and she didn't think she could right now.

Gerald, meanwhile, was blaming himself for her collapse, feeling it was due not only to his own inattention - not noticing the sever wasn't being used - but because he had stalled out in his research on Project: Shadow. The Biolizard was using the power of the Chaos drives to sustain herself, and she had also regenerated a lost leg. (That one had been an accident; before moving her to her new quarters, she had actually broken out of her tank, gashing her leg so badly that they had removed it surgically. She had regrown it almost before the sutures were due for removal.) She also could heal lesser wounds and the NIDS toxin had no effect on her. However she still had fits of aggression for no apparent reason. Additionally, she was still growing - the beast was almost fifteen feet long now - and was starting to have problems absorbing enough energy from the chaos lamps. The research on the other lizards and the rats just seemed to be achieving nothing. He needed a new Shadow, a new line of research. Gerald, still shocked by the sudden loss of his elder son and daughter-in-law, was now further jarred by the near-loss of Maria. It didn't help that he couldn't shake the feeling that the explosion of the shuttle was no accident. Ivan had banished him from the sickbay temporarily, sending him - ordering his own father! - to his room to rest. Gerald paced through the halls instead, with the Gizoid clumping along behind him. He couldn't rest, not while Maria was still so ill...he paused, recognizing the room he was in. It was the observation room near the entrance to their wing, one of her favorites, with the blue and white sphere of the Earth glowing brightly through the window, lighting the entire room with its reflected sunlight. The Gizoid at his shoulder, he stared out blankly at the gibbous Earth as he ran the incident through his brain again.

"I'm no mechanic, Gizoid - robotics, yes, shuttle rockets, no. But I know the mechanics here and in the crew, and they were _good_. The remaining techs insist that there was _no reason_ for the shuttle to have blown up. There wasn't a hint of trouble on the flight out, and once they'd shut the drives down and were just using the maneuvering jets around the comet...it makes no _sense_!" Realizing he was yelling at the silent robot, he moderated his tone. "Right when things should have been at their most stable it just...blew up. I can't shake the feeling that the comet is linked to it in some way...but the comet itself is unchanged. It wasn't affected by the explosion, it fired no missiles that anyone could detect..." he shook his head sharply, looking back at out the window as he remembered Maria's theory about the comet being full of purple, brain-eating aliens. "Right," he snorted, "the shuttle was blown up because the purple aliens wanted to keep the fact that the comet was their ship a secret."

"Actually," said a deep voice behind him, "the _black_ aliens mistook your vessel for an attacker. The weapons are automatic and we did not realize until too late that the ship was unarmed."

Gerald froze, his eyes locked on the blue shape of the Earth floating in space beyond the window. He refocused his gaze to look at a starfish-shaped reflection in the "glass". Then slowly he turned around to see something that did, indeed, look like a giant starfish hanging in the air behind him. A red eye glowed at him from the center of the "body". Distantly he noted that the edges were a bit fuzzy and transparent.

"Who are you?" he asked, with a remarkably steady voice. "You aren't actually here are you." The second remark was more statement than question, but the - creature - answered it first.

"I am a projection of a...you would call me an envoy, I think. I come to apologize for the death of your people and offer reparation if possible. The Black Comet has been our home for many generations while we have watched your civilizations grow and destroy each other. We feared that the humans on the vessel would attack us similarly." The creature spoke with an odd accent at first and hesitantly, as if unfamiliar with the language. The Gizoid stood silently in the corner of the room, unnoticed.

"So you just blew it up with no warning?" Gerald was suddenly furious, his moustache bristling like a cat's tail. This thing was directly responsible for Gerald and Angela's deaths and therefore indirectly responsible for Maria's current condition. He unconsciously took a step forward, raising his hands as if to strike or grab the illusory creature. "You murdered those people-"

"The ship came into range of our automatic defenses. You are a scientist; you know of the asteroids and smaller bodies that fly through space. Our "Black Comet" as you call it, must have the ability to protect itself or we could all die if we collided with such an object. The defenses fired before we were able to shut them down.

"I was sent to you because you are a scientist and have knowledge we wish to trade for, and a problem that we can help you to solve. We will aid you to your solution to make amends for our error."

"What problem would that be? And how can solving a problem make amends for killing eight people?"

"You seek a way to heal and extend life. We, the Black Arms, have the knowledge you seek. Would not the ability to save many lives compensate for a few?

"We will contact you again when we are able, we are still far distant and your planet is moving between us. We do not wish our presence known; do not mention this to anyone else." With that as its parting address, the image of the multi-armed being splintered and vanished.

Gerald blinked at the now-vacant area where it had been. Frowning, he headed towards his lab. Whatever the thing was it knew entirely too much about what was going on in the ARK: how could aliens know about Project: Shadow? He wondered if the alien truly thought its offer would replace the eight lives left. But aliens were, well, alien. Perhaps in their perspective all lives were equal and interchangeable. It occurred to him that the creature's accent had nearly vanished by the end of that little discussion, as had the hesitation. Could it have been learning the language even as they spoke? More importantly, was the accident truly an accident?

Gerald groaned softly as he rubbed his forehead. He needed to think clearly, but he was too tired to organize his thoughts. _But it said **heal** and extend life. If it can help me heal Maria... The Biolizard is not the answer. A new base creature is needed, a new Project: Shadow. A new Shadow indeed, borne of human and black alien - what did it call them? - human and Black Arms technology combined. If they actually can do what they claim. If they actually **will **do what they claim. If I can trust them. Maria... _His mind pushed up the images of her coughing in the sickbay, tossing restlessly with fever, simply lying still and pale as the sheets she was lying on, even her blue eyes seeming faded so that the darker rings around the irises stood out in shocking contrast. Gerald looked down at his hands. He moved out of the observation room, motioning to the Gizoid to follow. A check at the nearest computer station showed that however the projection had come on board it had done so without being detected by the security sensors. The security cameras showed him talking to someone, but the creature was (intentionally?) out of their line of sight. He appeared to be talking to the Gizoid. _That's all right then, nothing odd there. But did it know where the cameras could see?_ He would keep the secret, at least until he had what he needed. But he would watch the aliens very carefully.

Returning to his wing, he hit the release on his private laboratory door. He glanced automatically at the computer screen as he entered, intending only to make some notes in his private diary. The glaring red blinker at the top of the screen informed him that he had a "critical" official message. He sighed and altered his path to check the message. He had to read it twice before the message actually sunk into his brain. Headquarters - either GUN HQ or higher up in the executive branch - they were going to close down the space colony! The shuttle explosion...possible sabotage...rumors of monsters on board...it seemed that a handful of unrelated rumors and facts had been melded into something else. _No! They can't shut it down now! -the Biolizard, the new Shadow - these could be the solutions. These aliens might be able to help me finish the project! I can't stop, I must save Maria._ But what he could do, he wasn't sure. What he did do was unlock an in-built cabinet hidden behind the couch and pull out his secret diary, an actual, leather-bound book. The episode in the observation room must be recorded, but not in anything that might ever come officially to light. Tomorrow he would see what he could learn about the higher-ups plans and if he could do anything about them. Tomorrow also he must start laying the plans for a new Shadow, one that might make the answer. If they were threatening to terminate the experiments he must accomplish what he could at once.


	15. 5i 'Curls Up but Can't Swim'

**A/N:** Since it's Labor Day, I'm posting an extra chapter(assuming I can get an internet connection long enough to do so... . Also I've slightly edited the end of 3ii; the 'Life is Chemistry' wasn't Gerald's own thought but an attempt to rationalize a decision he knew he shouldn't make, which I did not make very clear initially. But welcome to Chapter 5; ten points to anyone who recognizes the title quote before reading the explanation:

5.i. "Curls Up but Can't Swim"

Maria recovered slowly and was still in sickbay when Ivan and Katherine were returned to Earth. GUN had declared a colony-wide alert; and all non-resident persons were required to leave or be evicted. As there was nothing to be gained by arguing, Gerald assured his remaining son and daughter-in-law that he and Maria would be fine and encouraged them to obey the "request" before it became an enforced order. There were rumors that the government was going to require residents to evacuate as well, at least those who were considered "non-essential" personnel, but that never quite materialized. Most of the patients in the sickbay, however, were returned to Earth; Gerald had to join forces with the head doctors in fighting for Maria and a few others who _could not_ return to Earth. There were several patients who for various reasons could not tolerate the gravity on-planet, mostly due to bone or heart conditions. Maria, of course, had the NIDS combination of neurogenic toxin and immune destruction that required daily therapy with Heal Units, and these could not be made on Earth. In the end these few patients were permitted to stay. Gerald did not join the researchers fighting for Project: Shadow; they had decided together that it would be more effective if he lent his voice and seniority to the doctors, who were much less experienced in countering GUN. _Not that I have much experience myself_, Gerald thought. _It was always Mary who really stood up to them... _But the image of Mary's face in his mind became Maria's, and Maria could not fight for herself. So Gerald planted his feet and refused to be moved. He won the right for Maria and himself to stay, and the researchers kept Project: Shadow alive, but there was to be a subsequent price no one anticipated. Several of the other research projects were closed down, the researchers called back to the Earth-based ARK. The staff that remained on the Space Colony ARK were redistributed among the remaining projects, including Project: Shadow which acquired two new lab techs. Gerald was to wonder, much later, if that was a critical factor in what happened after.

But for now things settled down, briefly. Maria recovered enough to return to her rooms in Gerald's wing. The Biolizard, now wearing a specially-designed life-support unit strapped to her back, recovered from her lethargy and apparent "starvation". With the life-support pack freeing the energy of the chaos drives and concentrating the energy in one area, she was now growing faster than ever. Gerald had to get several of his fellow researchers and techs to help him herd the giant lizard from her secret room to one of the now-abandoned, deep-level weapons test rooms. For a beast that was unable to stand on her own four feet, she was alarmingly mobile. The creature lunged and snapped at the poles and makeshift shields they were carrying to guide her with until Gerald wished he'd brought the Gizoid to help move the beast; at least she would have been unable to damage the robot, as it looked like she wanted to do to the humans. But the Gizoid was back watching Maria, and Gerald did not want to leave hid granddaughter by herself even briefly. Finally they turned the creature in at the correct door and sealed it behind her. Gerald and a few of the others went up to the control room where they could look down at the testing area. "Well, if GUN wanted a weapon, I'd say they've got one," someone said. "And it's still growing!"

"Weapons that attack their makers as well as the enemy aren't much good. You need something with enough brain to train, per the project specs" someone else replied.

Gerald frowned. The Project was about immortality; he didn't recall anything about training Shadow as a weapon. When he left the group, it was to go straight to his lab and pull up the Project: Shadow specs again. _It **is** there. Why didn't I see that before? ...to create the Ultimate Life-form; a weapon capable of self-regeneration and self-reproduction that can be directed to attack designated enemies of the Nation..._ He closed the file. Had that been there all along? Or had it changed sometime in the last years?Regeneration and self-healing were right, he remembered those, but the Chaos lizards' self-reproduction was only because he'd selected the parthenogenic lizard as his model; The Chaos rats were either male or female and reproduced as rats did everywhere. And he wasn't even certain what enemies the nation had at the moment, they certainly weren't at war with anyone. No, that couldn't have been what he'd signed, it was only the immortality at the start. At any rate, his goals were always different; they had never been quite what the project specified, only now, the degree of difference had changed..

But it was very true that he needed something controllable, with a brain, and something smaller that would not grow indefinitely. He wondered just how big the Shadow the Biolizard would get. Unlike mammals who hit a genetically-determined size and stopped growing, reptiles never quite did. Normally, of course the growth rate plummeted once they got to be a certain size, but it never stopped completely. The other active and passive Chaos lizards followed the usual pattern. The actives were 4 times the size of the passives and normal whiptails, but at about the same age they all dropped the highspeed growth and well, in the last 5 years the original actives, Biolizard's clutchmates, had grown about an inch and a half. She, on the other hand, was now nearly twenty-five feet long. Her proportions were also changed, as her neck was now as long as the rest of her body, and her tail comparatively shorter than normal whiptail proportions. And then there were the weakened legs, though she slithered rapidly enough.

_Mammals for fixed growth. Would that fix the proportional shift? That's NOT a whiptail trait. And until she KEPT growing, she was properly proportioned. So, using a mammal with a limited growth span may correct that. But which mammal? Rats? Rats are intelligent, but..._ The professor grinned in spite of himself, picturing his report to GUN on why their weapon looked like a rat. The image of a giant rat with a tail curled behind it intruded on his thoughts - an image from a book he'd read to Maria once, the Rusty Rats or something like that guiding people through the snow with their up-curled tails. _Up-curled, curled up... curled up? "Curls up but can't swim"_; the grin was replaced by a frown. _Where **do** I know that from? Kipling, of course, but... _He'd read Maria the nonsensical Just-So Stories and she'd loved "The Beginning of Armadillos" - Stickly Prickly Hedgehog and Slow Solid Turtle, playing their trick on Painted Jaguar. But that phrase had always resonated in his brain somehow, with an odd ring of familiarity. He jumped as the clock chirped at him and looking at the time, went to make sure Maria was getting ready for bed. Supervising bath, nightgown, tooth brushing and Heal Unit usage occupied his thoughts. And of course, prayers, bedtime story (Kipling, oddly enough, though she chose "The Cat Who Walked by Himself" tonight) and goodnight hug and kiss. By the time he got to his own bed the line had slipped from his conscious mind. ...But it still prowled his subconscious.

At 3 am he sat straight up in bed, waking out of a sound sleep to yell, "Rafe! The pyramids! 'Can Curl but can't cook.' That's where I'd heard it before!" He sagged back against the pillows, rummaging in his brain for thirty-year-old memories. _Rafe's last name is Curl, but it's also a sort of talent that runs in his family - the way some humans can curl their tongues and some can't - although in this case, it's the whole body that the hedgehogs roll up. A throwback, they think, from the ancestral hedgehogs who could flex a single muscle -so!- and change from a tasty-looking potential meal into a ball of sharp thorns. The dokan who possess the ability can't truly ball up the way their ancestors did, with that same muscle pulling the sides of their skin together over their arms and legs; the proportions have changed too much. Jenny couldn't do it all. But Rafe could; and with a bit of momentum, he could do a tuck and curl that would send a spine-edged disk rolling along for a surprising distance, and he could jump and curl at objects as well. I remember him showing me how he did it that night in the jungle, when we were on our way back from the pyramid. We then had one of those half-serious campfire discussions about ways to sharpen or stiffen dokan quills, and turn a curled hedgehog into a sort of rolling saw blade. Or a flying one, by launching the hedgehog off a catapult_. That might make a suitable weapon. Everyone overlooked the dokan, and "everyone" would also see that a three-foot-tall hedgehog couldn't truly be a threat. Not like one of the dokan crocodiles, lions, or even foxes might. All of the dokan, regardless of height, were stronger and tougher than the average human, with denser bone and muscle. A hedgehog's quills were so obvious as to be overlooked; it couldn't be disarmed; and it would be intelligent- Gerald snapped upright again, appalled at his own thoughts. Was he truly considering turning an intelligent species - he had _friends_ that were hedgehogs! - into a military weapon, a _slave_! For that was what they would have to be, to be what GUN was after.

_But they might not get what they expect...if I left full intelligence and free will, then it would not HAVE to obey them. ...if it could choose it's own path..._ He couldn't make a person a slave, and the dokan WERE people despite what some humans might think. But if he made the changes, altered a hedgehog to be immortal, to utilize the Chaos energy, that would be major tampering_. Talk about playing God. I don't have that right. Not even for Maria. _He lay down again and pulled the sheets up over his head, trying to clear his mind of thoughts that challenged his deepest ethics. But this voice was internal and could not be shut out so easily. And it knew the bait that he could not pass up - the chance to save Maria's life

_If it could choose NOT to obey..._ He flopped over and buried his face in his pillow. _If it retained free will, if it could choose like anyone else whether it wanted to be a soldier or not...a willing soldier would be better than an unwilling slave, surely... But I could hardly tell GUN that I was trying to create a weapon that might refuse to be used. But then would I have to tell them? They didn't tell me when they changed the contract. It was supposed to be an immortal life form, now it's an "Ultimate" one -but I could do that. I think. It wouldn't be very Ultimate if it was a mindless automaton, so it must be able to think for itself. _ Another thought occurred to him. _No, it would be far to dangerous that way - the Gizoid was the Ultimate Being, and it destroyed the Fourth Great Civilization because it's only purpose was to absorb fighting methods and apply them. So it must be able to make judgements and decide its own actions. _He hauled himself out of bed and began to pace, worrying the problem back and forth. He was aware that he was trying to work out the details for something he had no business even considering, and equally aware that he would do it, for Maria, even though he'd cover it up with pretty words and specious reasoning. He shoved his qualms into a dark corner of his mind and kept pacing, wrestling with the problem until the lights came up to tell him it was "morning".By then the creation of the Ultimate Life-form was a foregone conclusion; only the how remained uncertain.


	16. 5ii Dealing With Doom

ii. Dealing with Doom

Gerald spent the morning in his private lab trying to formulate plans. A faint, almost last-ditch hope that he wouldn't be able to find a hedgehog sample lurked almost unnoticed in the back of his mind as he called up the tissue lists. The first several pages listed not merely the "usual" laboratory species but a variety of other animals, a few plants... He realized rather belatedly what his artificial Chaos cells actually were when his eye caught the word "Chao" in the list._ No wonder they look like the water god's avatar, that's supposed to have been an altered Chao. _ He paged through the list and wasn't certain whether to be pleased or shocked to find all the "people" on the planet in the final category - Humanoids. He wasn't certain the dokan samples were legal; he knew the human samples were not.

But "hedgehog" was there, both the fist-sized spiky insectivore in the Animal category, and the 3½-foot-tall, intelligent dokan hedgehog in the Humanoid category. He pulled both types, the "real" fist-sized spiky hedgehog was to be his ostensible research specimen if anyone asked; and he was curious about the genetic comparison between the two - were they actually related, as humans were to monkeys, or were the similarities of appearance some odd convergence of unrelated species? He also searched for - and somewhat to his surprise actually found - a study on the genetics of the dokan hedgehogs' "curl gene". It appeared to actually be a set of several linked genes, and on investigation the ARK sample did possess them.

Gerald wasn't sure if this luck - finding everything he was looking for actually available - was the devil paving his way to hell or a sign that this was truly the work he was meant to be doing...but for Maria's sake he'd sit in the fires for eternity if he had to. He filled out the forms that would have the samples removed from deep storage and sent to the freezer in the Project: Shadow labs; the samples were labeled only numerically, so no one would know by looking anything other than that they were reserved by Professor Gerald Robotnik. Two days later, he got the message that the samples had arrived. At that point, the mysterious messenger returned...

Gerald was standing again at the observation window. He'd just shooed Maria away from it, telling her she was going to be late for school, but found himself lingering after she'd hugged him goodbye. The Earth was about half full today, the shadowed side of the planet lit by the glow of human cities to the north and the fewer sparkles of the dokan cities in the southern section. The dokan settlements were less visible from this distance because they tended to scatter their houses in villages or smaller groupings, and they had better night vision than humans and used fewer and dimmer lights in their streets.

"So, do you accept our offer?" Again, the deep voice came from behind him. He turned and saw the alien projection in the same area it had occupied before. He noted idly that the projection seemed much better defined today, the details clearly visible. The starfishy being had scaly-looking skin and although the arms were uniformly black, the skin around the red and gold eye was purple with a red star-shaped mark.

"Well," said Gerald cautiously, "as I understood it: you were offering your aid to design this Ultimate creature I've been assigned to create. As reparation for the attack on the shuttle. Do you want nothing in return?"

"The knowledge we give in reparation," answered the deep voice. Any trace of an accent or uncertainty was gone. "You will need more than that to create it, and for that we ask only a trifle; a few rocks from your planet that we do not have on our comet."

"Rocks?" queried Gerald. "I'm no geologist, but I suppose I could get some rocks. I presume you want a particular type or types?"

"Yes, but there is no rush. We will not need them until the next pass of our comet past your Earth, and the creature we create can be instructed to collect them by then.

"This is the deal, then: we give you the knowledge you lack in reparation for the shuttle; we further provide the materials you lack to create this creature in exchange for the creature collecting a set selection of rocks from your planet."

"What sort of selection?" Gerald was still suspicious.

"Crystals, I believe you call them, rocks that light can shine through, in different colors."

"Crystals, or gems? Some gems have a high value to humans." Not that that was a problem, Gerald was rich enough to buy whatever kind of gems the aliens wanted. But it just seemed too...simple. Too easy.

"Gems are used in...jewelry, are they not? These crystals are not that type of stone."

Gerald looked back out the window, remembering Maria teasing for stories of life on Earth - she didn't remember anything about living there. If he could not find a cure she would never go back again, but be confined to the ARK her whole life. The crystals should be no problem, he said firmly to himself, even if they did turn out to be gemstones. "All right. I accept your offer and promise that if the creature is viable, it will collect the stones for you."

"Good. You have an airlock in your lab; I will join you there at this time tomorrow."

"What!" Gerald yelped. "You can't dock with the ARK! Someone will-"

"No one will detect our approach. You will make sure the lab is not being monitored." And the projection vanished. Gerald stood wondering if he knew what he'd gotten himself into, then went to the computer station to review the security camera logs. Suspecting that the creature would reappear in the same area, he'd slipped a muffling device over the microphone of the camera in the observation room shortly after its initial visit. He wasn't concerned about the muffler being discovered - the sound recordings were only listened to if suspicious activities were noted visually, and there was unlikely to be anything going on in that room. Had he deactivated the sound, the computer would have sounded an alarm; but it was not programmed to determine clarity, only if sound data were being received. He pulled up the sound files and was pleased to discover that the muffler had worked, you could hear voices but there was no way to tell what was being said - and the alien's projected form was again out of the camera's range. He began making the alterations to the camera in his lab, looping the last week or so of footage so it would be received as a new recording. Then he went to pick up the hedgehog samples and take them to his lab, and start collecting the other equipment he'd need.


	17. 5iii The Third Step

iii. The Third Step

Gerald had things organized by the required time. Maria had poked her head in on the way to school, with Mokie standing behind her, to ask if she could go home with him after school to work on a project. Gerald had given permission willingly, glad to have her out of the way without having to think up an excuse himself. He checked the security recording and confirmed that it showed him working at one of the tables rather than seated at the computer. Then he started comparing the DNA scans of the dokan and "true" hedgehog DNA. Partly he was comparing the two sets of chromosomes, but also he was looking for specific regions where he could best insert the Chaos-harnessing genes. Not surprisingly, there was far more difference between dokan and European hedgehogs than between humans and say, chimpanzees; it was more along the lines of a human-monkey or even human-lemur comparison. He actually got so engrossed in the readings that he lost track of time and nearly leapt out of his chair when the airlock port started clanking. He turned towards the clear cylinder of the escape pod, expecting to see the cyclopean "starfish" entering through the airlock hatch in the bottom.

What rose up into the escape pod was not a starfish. Tall, roughly humanoid in appearance, at least from the "waist" up, the being regarded him out of three glowing red eyes. Long horns extended to each side of its head, and a crown of shorter ones projected from the top of the skull. Gold trim adorned the cuffs and collar of its black robes, which trailed off with no sign of legs at what would have been mid-thigh on a human. Despite the lack of visible legs, it hovered several feet above the floor of the ARK. A massive, three-fingered hand protruded from each sleeve, one fingering the heavy gold chain about its shoulders. Various silver ornaments hung from the chain. Hovering several feet above the floor, it spoke in the deep voice of the starfish.

"I am Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms. Show me the requirements for your experiment."

_The voice of Doom_, crossed irreverently through Gerald's mind. He sternly called his thoughts into order. _Be careful, Gerald, this one is used to command. Psychokinesis by the levitation, could he be telepathic as well? Do NOT trust him._ Aloud he said only, "I am Professor Gerald Robotnik, and these," he reached back to the keyboard and hit the pertinent keys without taking his eyes off the alien being, "are the requirements for the Project." What came up on the screen was a carefully modified version of the Top Secret Project: Shadow specs - not enough to save him from treason charges if anyone ever found out about it, but he wasn't going to let the alien simply look at military secrets. He suspected that an alien who arrived speaking English (and apparently able to read it as well, judging by the intense focus on the screen) was fully capable of taking any information it (he?) wanted either out of the computers or even out of minds - but that was no reason to simply give the information away.

The alien perused the information and nodded slightly. "Show me what you have so far." Gerald replaced the first file with an edited outline of the project so far. The primary edit was that although the Biolizard's Chaos energy absorption and oversize were mentioned, her current _actual_ size and in fact current existence were not, nor was there any reference to her outbreaks of violence. Again the alien studied the screen in silence. Then a massive finger stabbed the screen over the Biolizard's info. "You have part of the key here; but the Chaos energies cannot be controlled by such a mindless being - these "lizards" are very low intelligence animals, are they not? You did well to control it as long as you did; this is several...weeks...ago?" The huge digit tapped the last date noted on the screen.

"Months, actually," corrected Gerald. "There are four-and-a-half weeks in a month." _He **is** intelligent, he caught the date and apparently thinks she is dead, which is good; but he knew about the violence - has he been in the records, or monitoring the secret lab's security cameras? Or does he really know what he's talking about?_ Dealing with this being would require great care. But if he knew about the violence... "And yes, she had become uncontrollable during her rages because of her size." She had, and she still was, but don't mention that, nor that she was another foot longer than that last entry. "How is it that you are familiar with the animals of Earth?" _And the Chaos energies_, he thought but did not add.

"We possess long range scanners that have monitored your planet in the past." was the almost negligent reply. "Also you've been broadcasting your radio and television signals into space for at least two of our comet's cycles." The body swivelled to bring the creature face-on towards Gerald. "How else could we speak your language?"

_I wonder._ "I had been curious about that; you speak it very well indeed."

"It is a trivial thing." Gerald wasn't sure if the alien was being intentionally rude, merely tactless, or simply alien in dismissing his host's language so blithely. "Now. These rats have enough intelligence to subdue the power. It does not control them as it does the lizard. But you need a true intelligence to master the power, to both restrain it and make use of it. A human intelligence might be enough..."

"Actually," Gerald stepped into the arrogant pause, "I had been considering this." He brought up the dokan sample's statistics. The die was now officially cast.

"Ssssssssss," apparently a thoughtful sound, for the Black Arms. "This has no ability to gather Chaos energy. It is small, hardly worthy of being made a warrior."

"This is the basic specimen. After I alter the DNA, as I did with the rats and lizards, it will gather and store Chaos energy as they do. The dokan are stronger and more durable than humans, and the Chaos energies will enhance those traits; the small size will be an advantage both for ease of infiltration and in making enemies underestimate it until it is too late." He was quoting directly off of his next report, prepared in advance to be sent whenever the experiment proved successful. He added the Chao DNA next to the dokan stats.

"Ssssssssss. To obtain full power and control it will need more than that. Prepare it as you will to be ready in a week. Now, show me how you will grow this larva."

The lizard embryos had been reared in carefully opened and monitored eggs, the rat embryos implanted in surrogate mothers, but that was clearly out of the question here. Gerald displayed and explained the artificial womb that he'd obtained for the experiment - a very new piece of equipment that was still only about 50 successful. Gerald hoped that the chaos emerald's stimulating effects would improve the success rate but was expecting to have to run several experiments to get a single success. The unit was designed not only to grow an embryo through fetus to infant stage, but could also mature an organism. It was equipped to sleep-train the being inside during the maturation process if desired; not a feature that would have any application for animals. Gerald was certain that it was actually designed as a cloning device but either way it was perfect for his purposes. With another hissing consideration, the alien turned to depart, instructing Gerald to be ready to begin the incubation when it returned in a week.

It stopped short before it got to the escape pod though, turning sharply towards the Gizoid which was standing in a corner today. Although the Gizoid had been present at Gerald's first meeting with the projection, apparently something drew the alien's attention in person that had not been detected long range. Gerald had a nasty feeling he knew what it was. Doom drew near to the Gizoid, murmuring something that Gerald couldn't make out. Having no instructions regarding the alien, the Gizoid made no response.

"How do you come and go without being detected?" asked Gerald. Partly he was nervous about the attention the alien was giving the Gizoid, partly he hoped the alien's distraction might get him a careless answer. To his surprise, it worked.

"We designed our ship so, after studying the sensors on your shuttle. The sensors cannot detect it and as long as we avoid being silhouetted against another body like the Earth, the ship is difficult to see with the human eye as well."

"You could tell so much from the damaged sensors?" Gerald was impressed. "I'd have thought there wouldn't be much left after the shuttle was destroyed."

"The shuttle was obliterated in the attack. When our defenses took them for space debris." The alien turned back to Gerald. "We were unaware that the ship was crewed or even a ship before that. There was nothing left after. Your...machines... are not like our science." Apparently unaware that it had contradicted itself, the huge alien swept on into the pod and down through the hatch.

Gerald frowned. The ARK's sensors had supported the statement that there was nothing really left of the shuttle after the attack, but if the Black Comet had scanned the shuttle, well enough to get details of its sensor readings, then they must have known that the shuttle was occupied, and artificial. Perhaps there had not been time or ability to disarm the automatic responses, or perhaps it had in truth been no accident. "What did he say to you?" he demanded of the Gizoid.

"The Emerald! But only one...we need them all to feed the Comet. If I get them now...but the preparations will need another cycle to complete. No, let the humans enjoy their ignorance a bit longer; when we return, the creature can destroy its own world by bringing all the emeralds to us then." The Gizoid spoke in a low monotone, but Gerald was certain it was word-for-word what the alien had said. Suspicions confirmed, at least to his own satisfaction, he began modifying some of the sensing devices to try other ways of looking at the comet; working around the altering of the dokan embryo.

The actual adjustments didn't take anything like a week, although they were further slowed by the need to help Mokie and Maria with a school science project. Both children loved looking around the lab, and Gerald was fairly certain that his granddaughter could recognize more than he realized. Therefore he took great care to have any Project: Shadow work completely cleared away from both the tables and the computer. He assured himself that it was only because he didn't want Maria to know to much about a program that might cure her, in case it failed. The children both had fun experimenting with the modified sensors, although he pointed them at the moon or planets rather than the Comet.

At the end of the week, Black Doom returned. Gerald had the artificial womb set up, the embryo in the incubator with its own genes spliced to the chao genes that channeled the chaos energy. A half forgotten memory of the hidden chamber on Angel Island had inspired him to alter the genes controlling quill structure and color, as the ancient mosaic depicted, this hedgehog should be gold with more upright quills than the norm; although the aura of Chaos Energy would likely be invisible. Black Doom barely gave him a greeting before demanding to be shown his progress. He then instructed Gerald to proceed. As Gerald pulled the embryo in its dish out of the incubator, the alien produced a vial of glowing green fluid and poured it into the dish. Gerald spluttered in shock but Black Doom merely steadied the dish while apparently counting in his head, then said, "Now remove the specimen from my blood and proceed as you will. It will now have enhanced capabilities and control of the chaos energy."

Gerald, still rather shocked at the high-handed manner with which his experiment had been altered, did as instructed; finding the embryo in the green stuff was much harder than the clear fluids that had initially been in the dish, but he did locate it, finally, and pipetted it onto the special surface that would permit it to grow a placenta and nourish it during development. He closed the womb door, keyed in the codes and only then realized that an extra module had been attached to the machine while he was working. It had a strange, organic appearance, obviously alien.

"This unit is compatible with your...machines." Even through his irritation Gerald could hear the distaste in the alien's voice. "It will speed growth and maturation. The specimen should be ready for release in four months."

"I will return when it is ready." Black Doom stepped into the escape pod and dropped down through the floor hatch before Gerald could say a word.


	18. 5iv The Red and the Black

iv. The Red and the Black

Gerald was in the lab, monitoring the progress of the new Shadow. The Gizoid was stationed next to the unit, as it was at all times that it was not actually with Maria. Whether due to the Chaos Emerald, the Black Arms' "device" (which looked more grown than constructed) or a combination of the two, the embryo had already progressed well into fetal stage. That same alien device had provided some interesting study for Gerald, including showing him better ways to both detect and access the Comet - for it seemed to be in constantly communicating with the alien craft.

What he had managed to discover was rather alarming and supported the Gizoid's information; in response he had made a few adjustments to the embryo, although externally it looked perfectly normal. With the lights low, Gerald was looking through the window, noting that the first spines were starting to show through and pigment was appearing under the skin - and nearly jumped out of his own skin as Maria jumped up next to him!

"What's in there, Grandfather?" She asked, jumping up and down a few more times, trying to see in the window. Gerald caught her before she knocked into the unit and picked her up so she could look.

"It's going to be a hedgehog, a dokan like Rafe. He's going to be a very special and important person, and I'll need you to help me take care of him."

"Of course I'll help!" Maria loved to help people. "But why is he so important Grandfather?"

"Because..." He still could not bring himself to tell her that it might help him cure her. "Because he will have the ability to make a lot of people happy, and make life better for everyone." Stretching a point perhaps, but the ability to cure diseases and save lives would certainly do the first; although the second would rather depend on subsequent control of the birth rates. But he could hardly explain that to an eight-year-old.

"Grandfather?" Maria interrupted his thoughts. "Do you think he'll let me help? I want to make people happy too."

"I'm sure he will," Gerald smiled at her as he lowered her back to the floor, "you make plenty of people here on the ARK happy."

Maria flashed him that dazzling grin and skipped across the room - then stopped. "Oh. Dr. Jansen asked me to ask you if you could look at the Biolizard. She's acting weird, or something. Bye!" She ran on out of the room.

Gerald frowned. He had taken some of the blood that Black Doom had poured into the dish and added it to the Biolizard's life-support unit. He was trying to determine what effect it might have on the new Shadow, although there was no evidence that the already-modified genes had been further altered by the exposure to it. (He'd also run some other studies on the blood, making a few discoveries that had caused him to make an additional couple of quick changes in the embryo to forestall future problems.) The Biolizard's newest life support unit consisted of a specially-enlarged chaos generator strapped to her back and a pipe that ran up towards her mouth. She had not appeared to respond to the introduction of the green blood into the unit, unless her temper was worse; but that had always been erratic. He'd go down in a few minutes.

First he entered the notes on the current incarnation of Shadow, and sent off a carefully worded proposal for a major weapon to be constructed on and hidden within the ARK. Playing on the military's standard paranoia, he hoped to get permission to construct a defense against the Comet's return, without actually bringing aliens into the picture. The media had recently been panic-mongering about "near-miss" asteroids and comets again, which actually aided his plans, as it gave him a plausible reason to offer a solution. Having sent that on to HQ, he went down to see the Biolizard.

He honestly couldn't tell much difference in her behavior as he monitored her over the next few months. Maria turned nine and had a party with all her classmates, although she still had only Mokie who could really be called a "friend". Occasionally that worried Gerald, but she always seemed perfectly happy with him and Mokie, and got on with everyone on the ARK. Anyway, everyone had a good time as far as Gerald could tell - especially Maria, who chattered on about the party constantly as they monitored the progress of the infant hedgehog.

In spite of Gerald's expectation, the hedgehog had turned out to be black, with red stripes on his head quills, arms and legs. The quills however appeared to be conforming to his intended design, perhaps the alien blood had affected the color somehow. Maria had named the little creature Shadow "because the red streaks make him like the shadows cast by a fire." Gerald didn't quite follow the logic to that, but it simplified things that she'd named him the same as the project codename. As with the Biolizard, Maria knew that Shadow was to be kept strictly secret; not even Mokie knew of the two creatures' existence. It was very exciting to share such an important secret.

As the hedgehog grew, Gerald had activated the "sleep-learning" system. Once the infant's eyes were open, a visor was fitted. Not exactly asleep, but not awake either, the little hedgehog absorbed knowledge through sight and sound - he would be "born" in three months time with a full education but no experience. Meanwhile he grew apace. Gerald had designed, at Maria's instigation, hover shoes that were similar to her own hoverskates. Instead of being powered by chaos engines though, he had pulled out an old design of Mary's to power them by some of the strange golden rings they had researched so long ago.Over the years the rings had appeared in other places, all over the world - although they did mostly concentrate in the Southern hemisphere. They had even turned up on the ARK, although GUN tried to remove them whenever they appeared.Gerald had managed to collect a few, dropping them over plants as Mary had discovered so long ago to keep them from vanishing.

The end of the four months arrived. Maria was asked to collect a bouquet from the hydroponics lab after school - which Gerald knew could take an hour or more, since she'd want to get it just right to welcome Shadow. Black Doom arrived and Gerald keyed in the release sequence to the unit containing the new hedgehog. He'd removed the visor and dressed Shadow in gloves and hover shoes earlier that day. The pod swung upright, and Gerald felt a thrill run through him as the black and red hedgehog opened his scarlet eyes and awoke for the first time. No one inside the lab heard the gasp outside the door, as a boy with mis-matched eyes peeked in through the window and took in the alien and the hedgehog. Nor were they aware as Mokie fled in terror.

Now Black Doom made his anticipated demand, that Gerald have Shadow bring him the seven Chaos Emeralds in 50 years time when the comet returned. Gerald worded his reply carefully. "As you have kept your part of the bargain, so Shadow will keep ours." Black Doom then repeated his demand to the new hedgehog, who was still looking rather bemused, and left. Gerald wasn't certain that Shadow had even heard the alien, or registered his presence. He intended Shadow to bring the Emeralds as promised, but as Black Doom had been deceitful about his own plans, so the instructions Gerald would leave Shadow would modify their end of the deal - not repayment but destruction.

"Shadow," he called gently, "look at me, my son."

The hedgehog stood a moment or two longer, staring around the lab, then turned towards Gerald. The eyes, the same color as the stripes on his quills, looked at Gerald blankly, then suddenly cleared. "You are...Professor Gerald Robotnik." The voice unusually deep for a dokan hedgehog. The identities of Gerald and Maria had been part of the sleep-training.

"Yes. I am Professor Gerald, your father." They both turned towards the door as it opened to let Maria skip through, her arms full of flowers. She stopped dead at the sight of the hedgehog standing there, her momentary surprise shifting to absolute delight as her usual smile lit up her face.

Shadow involuntarily smiled back as Gerald added, "And this is Maria, your sister."


	19. 6i Interlude

6.i. Interlude

"The Earth looks so pretty today, Shadow. Isn't the crescent beautiful? With all the lights on the dark part. I want to go back there someday, 'cause I don't really remember anything about it. I want to sit in the grass under a tree and watch the birds fly and look at the clouds from below instead of the top.

"Grandfather says a lot of the people down there aren't happy and it'll be your job to cheer them up. I 'll help, if you'll let me. It's awful to think of anyone is such a beautiful place being miserable."

Shadow glanced away from the blues and whites of the planet beyond the window and up at the face of the girl next to him. The light reflecting from the planet gave a bluish tint to her hair and skin, and deepened the color of her eyes and her blue dress. He thought Maria was as beautiful as anything could possibly be on that planet. But she loved to look at the Earth and talk about it.

The first thing he clearly remembered was the sight of this girl bursting through the door with an armload of flowers and the most incredible delight on her face. He had reacted to the welcome automatically, returning her smile with one of his own. She had been very dedicated to her "big sister" role, showing him around their wing and then the ARK - Gerald had quickly realized that Shadow, as an intelligent person, could hardly be kept confined and isolated the way the Biolizard was, and had given Maria permission to introduce him to the research section and eventually the entire colony. He had cautioned her and Shadow both not to tell anyone that he was born on the ARK, and most people seemed to assume he was somehow linked to the other dokan that had come up to see Gerald previously. Shadow didn't go around in the public areas very often anyway, preferring to spend most of his time with Maria. Maria seemed to prefer his company as well.

"Why did you leave Earth, Maria?" he asked looking back at the world she loved. He had been told a lot of things, both before his awakening and in the months since, but that was something no one had mentioned. And he hadn't asked before because she seemed sad about it usually. "Did you just come here because of Professor Gerald?"

"No." She was very still for a moment, then turned to look at him. "I'm...I'm sick Shadow. I came up here because I can't live on Earth."

The hedgehog's red gaze jumped up to meet hers. He frowned, noting her atypical solemnity. But he didn't quite understand. "But...how are you sick? Ill people cough and sneeze and have fevers. You don't. Then they get well or go to the hospital to get made well. Or the sickbay, here." He still wasn't entirely sure why there were multiple words for the same thing or why some were specific to certain places.

"Or they die," said Maria quietly. She turned away from both the observation window and Shadow. "I'm not sick here because of the Heal Units, Shadow. Grandfather made them for me - they help everyone, of course; that's what he wants to do is help people, that's why he made you, too - but he started working on the Heal Units because of my disease. If I go back to Earth, unless he can find a cure first, I'll die."

Shadow was stunned. Death was only a concept to him, and not a terribly clear one at that; but he was certain that it was a terrible thing where people went away forever. And Maria was very sad about it so it truly must be something awful. "Then you mustn't go back there, Maria. I don't want you to die..." he tried to think of some alternative. "I'll go there myself and make people happy and you, you can stay here and, um...help me think how to do it." He looked up at the girl, offering a tentative smile that she couldn't see, as she still had her back to him. He lost the smile as he realized her breathing sounded funny. Was that because she was sick? Could she die here on the ARK as well? "Maria?"

Maria sniffled as she turned around finally. Shadow was shocked to see water leaking out of her eyes. "Maria," his voice nearly failed him in alarm, "what's wrong? Are you sick now?" He didn't like not knowing what was going on; he had awakened with a lot of knowledge but no real grasp of what he knew until he experienced it.

"It's okay Shadow," Maria offered a dim version of her smile, even through her eyes were turning red and still watering. "I'm always sick technic'ly, but I'm just sad right now. I want to go back to Earth so much, and I don't like having to think about being sick, 'cause it makes me cry. You won't tell Grandfather, will you? He worries so when I cry, or talk about being sick."

"I won't tell," answered Shadow automatically. Anything she asked of him, he would do. And he remembered about crying now, he'd just never seen it before; those were "tears" then, and the funny breathing would be "sobs"? "Don't cry, Maria, please. We won't talk about it anymore-"

"No, I need to talk about it sometimes, I think. But I can't talk about it to Grandfather. Or Mokie. I talk to Uncle Ivan sometimes when I can, but I'd really like if I could talk to you, since you're always here," she sniffed again, and rubbed her face with the heels of her hands. "But not right now. But you need to know, everyone else does. It's got a long official name but it's called NIDS for short, and as long as I use the Heal Units I really am okay. You can look it up and we can talk about it later. So don't worry about me Shadow; I won't go back to Earth until Grandfather figures out how to fix me for good." She offered a smile, but it was a pale imitation of her usual grin.

"I'm sure he will, Maria. Then we can both go to Earth and see everything." He sounded as positive as he could, and was rewarded with a proper Maria smile. Shadow looked back out at the planet hanging in space. He would definitely look up this NIDS on the computer, but he'd need to do it when Maria was not there. Or the Professor. He turned back to the girl as the watch on her wrist chirped. "You'd better go. You don't want to be late for school."

"No." She hugged Shadow briefly and skipped out the door. "Goodbye Shadow. "

He watched her skip out of the observation room. With a sigh he turned once more towards the giant window. He knew from Maria that he had been created to help people, and make them happy. Professor Gerald had confirmed that, but had also told Shadow, privately, that he had created the hedgehog for Maria's sake as well. But he had never explained any further than that. Shadow wasn't sure how he was supposed to make a whole planet of people happy - he knew how to make Maria happy, but some people, like the boy with the different-colored eyes, did not seem to like him, so how was he to make those people happy? He decided to see what his 'father' was up to, and if he could get on the computer.

Gerald had left a note that he was down with the Biolizard. Shadow had never seen it but was vaguely aware that it was in some way his predecessor. At least that meant he could get on the computer without the Professor asking what he was looking up. He entered the passwords the professor had given him and started looking for information on NIDS. He found a great deal, nearly all of it grim. Maria had been quite right about the Heal Units keeping her well, and also about her life depending on them. Shadow had noticed that Gerald would tense up when Maria stumbled or tripped, now he realized that either could be signs that the nerve damage had renewed. He also found Maria's actual medical records - Gerald technically ought not to have had those, but since he was researching the disease he had managed to talk the doctors into allowing him access. Shadow read about her near-fatal episode after her parents had died. He shivered, had she died then he would never have met her. He was aware that her parents had died, but she didn't talk about them much. Obviously she had loved them a great deal to neglect herself so; he knew how careful she was now about the Heal Units. He frowned and cleared the screen. Propping his face in his hands he reached out to feel the world, or at least the ARK.

He could dimly sense people moving around him, although the only things he could actually identify were the Gizoid, which burned like phosphorus to his sixth sense; the Biolizard, a massive but fainter presence; and the other Chaos lizards and rats in the lab, fainter yet - although more present than any of the humans. The latter creatures, he knew, were linked to him and the Biolizard in some way he had not yet been told. They were in the Project: Shadow lab. The Biolizard was of course down in her enclosure in the Deep Cavern. Shadow knew where both of those were and that they were to be kept secret from most of the people on the ARK. The Gizoid...the Gizoid was in a deep area of the ARK. Shadow opened his eyes and pulled up a map of the space colony on the computer. According to the map the Gizoid was in the midst of solid rock. The Project lab and the Biolizard's chambers were delineated in blue, which meant that they were only visible on computers with proper clearance; the public part of the space colony would not find any trace of them on their maps. Apparently there was something even more secret going on - or perhaps the map just needed updating. The Gizoid only left the lab in company of Maria or Gerald, which meant the Professor was probably there as well, for some reason.

Shadow logged off the computer and left the lab, heading for a hallway he knew would be empty this time of day. He was allowed free roam of the colony, although he usually stayed near the Professor's wing unless he was with Maria. He needed to think and he could think best when he was moving. He walked through the main corridors amid humans hurrying hither and yon on business of their own, then powered up his hover shoes with a thought and skated down the empty back passages. There was an entire loop of residential corridors that was almost guaranteed to be empty this time of day including a long slope that he enjoyed gliding down, and he could follow that path automatically while his mind was otherwise occupied. Maria had shown it to him, giggling over how much trouble she'd gotten into when she had first tried out her hoverskates in it, while it was being constructed. She liked watching him dash down the slope, and liked to race him, even though she couldn't begin to keep up. If Gerald wanted the hedgehog, he could find him here, it was the only place Shadow regularly went by himself. After one fast dash around the "Loop" he dropped to a more meditative pace and put his body on automatic while he thought about what he'd learned from Maria and the computer.


	20. 6ii Explanation

ii. Explanation

Shadow was startled out of his thoughts when a woman jumped back as he turned a corner. Braking to a halt, he apologized, then noticed a number of other people entering the hall. He was amazed to discover that he'd been lost in his thoughts for several hours, and headed back to the lab. This time he entered to find both Professor Gerald and the Gizoid there.

"Ah, Shadow, what have you been up to today?" Gerald inquired.

"Thinking, mostly." Shadow hesitated a moment, knowing the professor generally dodged the subject of Maria's health. He decided that this time, if necessary, he'd pursue the issue until he got an answer.

"Father," - he usually called him Professor Gerald, calling him Father indicated he was serious - "Maria told me today - we were in the observation room looking at the Earth, like she likes to do - and she told me about her illness. You said once that you created me for her sake, is it because of her NIDS?"

Gerald blinked at him, that was not a subject he was expecting - or one he really wanted to discuss. One of the side effects of the fast-maturation that he had not expected was the tendency to think of Shadow as a child; the dark hedgehog was newly "born" and as a dokan only about 3 feet tall, but although he was a child in experience he was both extremely intelligent and capable of mature thinking and reasoning. Which kept slipping Gerald's mind. Regarding the black and red hedgehog, he could tell that he was not going to be able to duck the question this time. With a long sigh the scientist sat down on the couch, waving Shadow towards the desk chair. With the hedgehog perched cross-legged on the chair his eyes were about level with the human's on the couch. Gerald felt Shadow's red eyes watching him as he pondered his response.

"You've looked up NIDS." That was a statement; Gerald knew the habits of his Ultimate Life Form well enough that he didn't need Shadow's nod to confirm it. "Have you looked at the specs for Project: Shadow?" That got a negative head shake; he didn't think Shadow could get into those anyway, but one could never be sure. "Basically, the original request was to find the key to immortality; it later was altered to require the creation of an Ultimate Life Form. My own goals were always slightly different from the assigned ones though." Gerald took a deep breath before continuing.

"Maria is my life." The statement was said simply and matter-of-factly. "When we learned about her illness...I was already up here on the ARK and hoped that up here she would at least be exposed to fewer diseases then on Earth. And that was when I took the responsibility for Project: Shadow, not looking for immortality but rather for a new means of healing. The disease, as I'm sure you read, is in her genes and therefore cannot be treated as we can treat bacteria, or even viruses in some cases; the disease is part of her cells like a cancer. But if one is to live forever, there must be a way for the body to change or repair damaged genes, and that was what I was actually after. The Heal Units do not affect the genes, they repair damage to cells and stimulate the immune system to more effectively destroy invading organisms or toxins, but the DNA error is always there to regenerate the toxins that destroy her nerves and white cells. So the Heal Units keep her alive, up here, but they cannot be made on Earth; therefore, as much as Maria longs to return, it would be a death sentence for her unless I can figure out a way to actually correct the DNA errors that _cause_ the NIDS.

"This...is not _why_ you were created, but it is a part of it; the hope that if you possessed the ability to correct DNA errors then I might be able to duplicate the mechanism in some form that could be administered to Maria -and others with genetic diseases. It is..a selfish reason to create a life, I know..." Gerald looked at Shadow directly for the first time, "Can you forgive me for that?"

Shadow was not certain why Gerald thought he needed forgiveness. He had known since he awakened that he was created for a purpose; and Maria was a far better purpose then some he had thought of. And even children created in the normal fashion were not necessarily given life through selflessness. But before answering that question... "Do I have it? This ability to correct DNA mistakes?"

"I do not know, my son. At the moment you are still too young for me to answer the question. In three or four years, I will be able to tell, but not yet."

"I am not sure why you think you need my forgiveness, but you have it. And if I do have this ability that can help Maria, than it is hers, whatever you must do to give it to her." Shadow was absolutely certain on that point. Anything he needed to give Maria, up to and including his life, was hers.


	21. 6iii Modulation

iii. Modulation

Professor Gerald Robotnik sat at his computer, regarding the results on the screen with an almost hesitant delight. Project: Shadow, the black hedgehog, was in fact repairing DNA damage; further, an extract of his cells, had actually corrected the NIDS defect when added to a solution of affected rat cells. In the three years since he had awakened, Shadow had become not merely a little brother but a best friend to Maria; the hedgehog would do anything she asked, and anything Gerald asked on her behalf - which was why he'd ended up spending several hours with an arm under a UV lamp to simulate sunburn. That had been the quickest way Gerald had come up with to induce DNA damage, although it hadn't been as simple as he'd expected. The fur that protected Shadow's skin had to be shaved, and then it had taken a much longer exposure than Gerald had anticipated to cause a sunburn. Shadow had merely asked could the contraption be arranged so he could access the computer with his other hand and put up with it. When the sunburn finally occurred, he had additionally put up with having a few punch biopsies taken and a few days later when the burn had healed had given up a few more bits of skin. Gerald was still amazed that within the week not only had the punch sites healed but the fur regrown, leaving no indication that anything had happened. But the first set of biopsies had shown damage at the genetic level, as in humans (and normal dokan) while the second had shown no damage at all, where there should have been residual, permanent changes.

Shadow had offered further samples when Gerald informed him of the results, but Gerald had told him with a laugh that he'd already cultured out some of the cells from the punch samples and in fact those made with damaged cells had repaired themselves during the culturing the process. He hadn't missed the hedgehog's not-quite-suppressed relief - he would serve as a guinea pig for Maria, but if he didn't have to he'd rather not. Those cell cultures had been used for the test whose results were currently on-screen.

_It worked. It actually **worked!**_The hesitant delight gave way to a more determined elation. _I must tell Shadow..._ But not yet. The hedgehog and Maria were out skating in the corridors they had come to call "the Loop", and Gerald was still adamant about not telling Maria about his progress until he was certain of a cure. It would be too cruel to raise her hopes and then dash them if the experiment failed. The Biolizard, the Chaos rats - both had proved dead ends, even though the research had not been in vain; that research had led to the creation of Shadow._ And Shadow really is a success in himself, even if he didn't offer hope for a cure. _Gerald sometimes forgot why he'd created the hedgehog, at least insofar as his status as a military project and potential weapon. As an Ultimate Life Form - Shadow was intelligent, incredibly fast, strong and tough (all dokan were compared to humans but Shadow was exceptionally so), he learned fast and preferred to arrive at his own conclusions. He was neither talkative nor demonstrative except around Maria, tending towards an outward reserve that made people often forget he was present, but he was exceptionally observant. And, as Black Doom had intimated, he had control over his Chaos powers.

Unlike the rats and lizards, he seemed to be able to absorb Chaos energies from the environment, although the presence of Chaos Drives or especially the Chaos Emerald greatly aided the process. He could manipulate the absorbed energies in a variety of fashions - down in one of the shielded weapons rooms he'd demonstrated a "blast" ability that had slagged a few scrap materials left around. That had been a major drain on his power though, most of the time he used the energy for more minor displays. He could produce balls or bubbles on energy of several sizes and occasionally would blow on his fingers as if they were a bubble wand and produce as stream of varicolored globes of energy that invariably made Maria laugh. The energy could be modified to be no more tactile then a soap bubble, to be as solid as steel, or to deliver an electric-type shock; and Shadow could direct and dismiss them as easily as he could summon them. He could produce the globes in fewer numbers but larger sizes and had inadvertently trapped Mokie in a solid one once. Most of the people on the ARK were familiar with Shadow by now, but for some reason the boy had always been oddly wary of Shadow; now, although he had not been hurt by the bubble, he seemed downright terrified of the hedgehog. Shadow's other major power was the ability to actually stop or drastically slow down time from the hedgehog's perspective; combined with his incredible speed, it would be very difficult for an enemy to stop him. Shadow could also teleport, which presumably used energy in proportion to the distance traveled, although the ARK was small enough that no distance on it used much energy, even out in the fizz field. (That episode had nearly given Gerald a heart attack, as well as setting off proximity alarms all over the ARK. Shadow and Maria had decided to test both his powers and whether dokan really could breathe out in the zone of thin air that surrounded the colony asteroid. The answer was yes, but both had gotten into trouble over that maneuver.)

One of the other researchers, who was interested in martial arts, had given both Shadow and Maria training in some basic moves. Gerald had been amused that his granddaughter actually was more interested in the lessons than Shadow, who was supposedly made to be a weapon. (When shadow had asked for the Project: Shadow specs, Gerald had given him a copy of the original project, with the primary immortality focus, not the modified version demanding a living weapon.) The hedgehog did indeed display the curling ability that Rafe had, and another way he made Maria laugh was by rolling down the slope in mid run. Hedgehog bowling, she'd called it and set up targets for him to aim at. They'd also (with a slight hint from Gerald to Maria) developed a similar game where he did a sort of jump-curl at targets. That had also set off alarms one day, when Maria had collected a bunch of helium balloons after a party and tied them around the course at different heights for Shadow to pop with his quills. The staccato popping had resulted in a call to security about someone shooting off a gun. Most often though, the course was used for racing, with the pair setting up obstacles for each other. Gerald had kept a close eye on that at first until he was certain that Shadow did understand that Maria was more fragile than the hedgehog himself, but in truth Shadow had never put up anything Gerald considered dangerous. Maria herself had tried some things that Gerald had not approved of when he found out - usually long after the fact - but he trusted the hedgehog both to take care of her and, as Shadow gained experience with "real life", to also moderate the girl's occasional excesses. The hedgehog had ended up in the unusual position of being more mature in judgement and thinking than his older "sister", while still being younger in life experience.

Gerald logged off the computer, deciding that a celebratory dinner was in order - even if the next step fell through, the successful experiment was a major advance - and headed for the Loop to see what the pair were up to and ask what they wanted for dinner. He found Shadow weaving and jumping through an obstacle course Maria had set up, while she cheered him on. Gerald paused a moment on the sidelines - was the hedgehog actually increasing speed midair as he homed in on his targets? _He is. He's jumping up, then picking up speed as he changes direction towards the bull's-eye. Incredible! Another application of his Chaos Control, I suppose._ Gerald had just opened his mouth to greet the pair when the alarms went off.

Gerald and Maria both jumped and stared around as the sirens blared and the red lights started flashing. Shadow flicked out of his curl midair and landed in a crouch, pivoting as he landed towards one of the hallways at the top of the ramp. Gerald followed Shadow's gaze with his own in time to see something move, but couldn't quite see what was there. As he unconsciously stepped forward for a better look Shadow shouted "Maria! Go with the Professor. Father, get her out of here!"

Gerald caught Maria's hand as she reached him and turned to run, calling over his shoulder, "Shadow, you come too!" just as the speakers crackled to life. He thought he saw the hedgehog stagger slightly as he turned to follow, raising a hand to his head; but since Shadow almost immediately caught up with the humans and glided along just ahead of them he ignored it.

"ALERT! ALERT! ALL EMERGENCY PERSONNEL REPORT TO EMERGENCY STATIONS. ALL CIVILIANS CLEAR THE CORRIDORS. RETURN TO YOUR HOMES OR STAY WHERE YOU ARE IF YOU ARE NOT CURRENTLY IN TRANSIT! ALERT! ALERT!..." the message repeated loudly and mindlessly. Then Gerald caught a key word in a different voice as they turned into the passage that connected to his wing. "...ECHIDNA MEET MR. LIZARD AT THE DEEP CAVERN. REPEAT. MR. ECHIDNA MEET MR. LIZARD AT THE DEEP CAVERN. ALERT! ALERT!..." The general alarm resumed but Gerald barely noticed. Dr. Jansen was sending out a Mr. Echidna call...the Biolizard was loose.


	22. 6iv The Next Disaster

iv. The Next Disaster

Gerald sent Maria to her room, cut deeper into the rock of the asteroid than the main lab, and ordered Shadow to retrieve the Chaos Emerald from the Gizoid when it returned to the lab and guard the entrance to the wing. Maria disappeared down the hall, Shadow followed Gerald back out as far as the observation room. He seemed to be trying to say something to the Professor but Gerald couldn't hear him over the alarms and was intent on the Biolizard anyway. Giving up, the red and black hedgehog stationed himself in the shadows of the observation room, out of direct sight from the main corridor, and Gerald kept running. He couldn't figure out _how _the lizard could have gotten loose, let alone **_why_**. She had fits of temper but had never attempted to escape. He skidded around a corner and nearly ran Ilya Jansen down.

"What happened?" he grabbed her arm both for his own support and hers as they both reeled back from the collision.

"Professor!" she gasped at the same moment. "I don't know why, but she just went berserk! I saw that robot of yours go into the control room and then the subject just - shrieked and went crazy! The robot came right back out but by the time I got to the control room the lizard had knocked the WALL down into the antechamber and was squeezing her way through the access corridor. If she reaches the main halls..."

Gerald didn't need her to finish. The Biolizard was now so big that the access corridor would be a tight squeeze, but if she got into the main halls there would be room enough for her to move - and the opportunity to cause serious damage. He picked up speed again, heading for the control room with Dr. Jansen right beside him. He sprinted past the Gizoid as it came trudging up the hall, snapping out a command for it to return to his lab quickly, seeing without really registering the glow escaping along its joints and chest panel seams.

A glance in at the door was all it took - beyond the damage-proof windows the testing chamber was empty, the door and a large portion of the wall was gone. Gerald barely even slowed, grabbing a device from a clip by the control room's door and pounding on towards the access hall that connected to the weapons chamber itself, laboring for breath as he ran.

The lizard was already gone, out into the main halls. She'd evidently hit a hydraulic line along the way, as a trail of brown fluid led down the hall. Gerald prayed that the control function he'd built in to the last life support would work, but first they'd need to get her someplace manageable. He heard weapons fire in the distance and ignored it, knowing that the Biolizard's scales and hide had become impenetrable to any normal sort of armaments. He only hoped they wouldn't make her too mad.

Shadow heard the guns as well, from his post in the observation room. Something was _wrong_ with the Biolizard, her support system "felt" strange through his Chaos senses, but he'd been unable to get that message across to the Professor. Seeing the Gizoid approaching, he ordered it to stop, but it quick-marched on past to Gerald's lab. With a grimace of annoyance, Shadow skated after the robot; once it entered the lab it finally obeyed his command to open its chest panel. The Emerald blazed within, something had upset the power greatly. There was no other way to describe it, really. Shadow had to restrain a flinch as he reached in to grasp the gem, anything that bright, his hindbrain firmly believed must be too hot to touch. In reality, the Emerald was, if anything, colder than normal. He clenched it in his fist as he dashed back to the observation room to wait. Hearing the gunfire again, he closed his eyes and reached out to locate the Biolizard - only to find that she was in a completely different direction from the sounds. Focusing in the direction of the noise, he picked out the vague traces of multiple humans...and...and...a Chaos Drive? It felt equally peculiar, as if it were being affected by the Emerald's distress or reacting to the same cause. But Chaos Drives were only in the Biolizard's life support - and the Artificial Chaos robots. He opened his eyes, gazing blankly out the window as he tried to figure out what an Artificial Chaos was doing in the main research area. They were supposed to be stored in a particular chamber near - oh. "The secret research labs near the Biolizard. And the Chaos Drive feels strange," he muttered. Closing his eyes once more he reached for the lizard again and find that the peculiar "feel" of her Drives also echoed the Chaos Emerald's upset. What was going on?

"Shadow!" Shadow jumped and opened his eyes as he spun towards the door to see Maria rushing out of their wing. "Shadow, help me!"

"Maria?" he knew Gerald had told her to stay in her room and couldn't imagine why she'd disobeyed.

"Please Shadow, I need your help!" Maria clutched at his hand. "Grandfather's experiments... something's gone horribly wrong!"

"What is it?" His mind raced for what else could be wrong. They already knew the Biolizard was loose, she couldn't know about the Artificial Chaos, could she? Surely the other Chaos lizards and the rats weren't also running amuck - but they were down in the labs near where the Artificial Chaos were supposed to be. The Gizoid was nonfunctional while Shadow had the Chaos Emerald...

"The research lab... it's going to be destroyed. Something must be done! Please Shadow, I beg you! Help grandfather and those aboard the ARK! Please!" She tugged at his hand, then pressed it to her breast as she pleaded with him.

"I'll be there, Maria. I swear, whatever it takes, I'll take care of the ARK and the professor!" Shadow raised a fist in pledge. "But do you know who's attacking the lab?"

"The Artificial Chaos. There's a message on the computer; the GUN soldiers that are stationed here are split up and some are cornered in the research lab by some of the robots! They broke out of their niches and are demolishing the lab; several are running loose on the ARK! Grandfather's out there after the Biolizard, so you're the only one who can help. And the robots are attacking people so Grandfather's in danger too! Please Shadow, hurry!" She laced her fingers together and clasped her hands under her chin, appearing on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry, Maria. I'll take care of it. Go back to your room and wait where it's safe." Well, safer, he hoped. He made certain she was retreating before he activated his hover shoes and skated out. She'd be monitoring the progress on the computer, he should have guessed. Well, now he knew why the Artificial Chaos was in the main section of the research facility. He reviewed what he knew about them as he raced towards the closest. They were created by the Professor; he'd intended them for guard and surveillance robots but GUN had modified them. They had the ability to splinter off pieces that could serve as messengers or as extra eyes and the fluidity of their composition gave them an unexpected reach, as well as invulnerability to most attacks. Shadow had learned about them and Gerald's other creations during his sleep-training, and had seen the things in their storage niches in the research lab - and in action in a weapons test - but had never interacted with them directly. But Maria was counting on him, and it seemed better to track the things down now and stop them, than to hide and wait for them to find her. _No point in looking for the Professor, he's busy with the lizard. The closest one is...here!_

He slid around the corner to find the globular blue construct hanging in midair. Its back was towards him as it faced the two soldiers it had cornered. One was firing uselessly at the amorphous body while the other reloaded his gun. "Aim for the head!" shouted Shadow as he jumped and homed in on the robot's helmet himself. He disoriented the thing at least, as its attack against the soldiers went wide, smashing a light on the wall. He pulled Chaos energy and aimed again, using the resonance between the gem he carried and the Chaos Drive that powered the robot to propel himself towards it a second time. All the practice in the Loop on targets suddenly had a purpose, but it was helpful that the Emerald and Drives naturally attracted each other. He felt something riffle his fur as he bounced off this time, and realized that he'd nearly been shot. Landing to take aim again, he saw the robots head explode as one of the soldiers' shots hit home. Immediately the body dissolved into blue goo. "Tell the other soldiers," he assumed they had radios or some method of communication, "they need to aim for the heads, the bodies will either absorb impacts or reflect them. If you destroy the brain or the power source, they'll lose cohesion." The last bit was called over his shoulder, as Shadow was already moving towards the next disrupted Drive feeling.

It was a long battle and between Shadow and the GUN soldiers fifty-seven of the Artificial Chaos were destroyed. The constructs had fortunately not gotten into the public areas of the colony, though they had gotten in to the "GUN lift" transport system, and from there they might easily have gotten into the colony-at-large. The battle had only ended when the remaining robots suddenly shut down and went dormant. Unfortunately the robots managed to account for over half of the soldiers stationed on the ARK; eighteen bodies were prepared for return to Earth. Shadow had a painful burn across one arm where another bullet had come too close, and a sore shoulder from a construct that had been hiding in the shadows of the GUN lift tunnel, and struck at him as he passed it. He made his rather weary way back to Maria's rooms, where she dashed about bandaging his arm and fussing over him. The alarms which had dwindled to a barely heard background noise during the fighting suddenly caught their attention again as they shut off.

Maria looked nervously at Shadow. "Do you think that means that Grandfather caught the Biolizard?"

The hedgehog closed his eyes and reached tiredly to sense the lizard's presence. Frowning slightly he opened them again and looked thoughtfully at the girl. "Something's happened to her; it's not the out of control feeling she had earlier, its more like the Artificial Chaos' dormant state. I'm not sure what that means..."

"It means," said a very weary voice at the door, "that I've put the Biolizard into stasis until I can figure out what to do with her."


	23. 6v Dark and Deep

v. Dark and Deep

"Grandfather!" Maria dashed across the room to hug him, then guided him to a seat on her bed - the only chair in the room being currently occupied by Shadow. "Are you all right? You look exhausted!"

"I'm just tired, love. And annoyed with myself that I didn't see this coming." He accepted a glass of lemonade from her. "It was right _there_ in front of me. It was the _Gizoid_ that triggered her outbreaks of rage, every time I took him down there, she had a**fit** - and I never connected the two! How could I not see it?" He was clearly furious with himself, his voice rising with each phrase until he was yelling.

"No, sir," said Shadow suddenly. Startled out of his self-condemnation, Gerald looked over at the black hedgehog. "Or at least, not exactly. Professor, all the Chaos energies were unbalanced today, not only the Biolizard and her life support, but the Artificial Chaos' Drives as well...even the Chaos lizards and rats in the research lab were affected - that's why the Artificial Chaos attacked it, I think...they smashed the cages and killed all the Chaos-altered creatures but left the normal ones alone. I think it may have been the Chaos Emerald that actually caused the problem, not the Gizoid itself."

Maria placed her small hands comfortingly on top of her grandfather's as Gerald stared at the Shadow. "You mean to say you can _see_ Chaos energy?"

"Not see, exactly, sir. It's more like...like..." Shadow groped about for a way to describe it. He was surprised to realize that the subject had never come up before. "I can feel the Emerald over there," he waved towards where the Emerald was lying on top of Maria's desk, "like...well, you can feel something that's very hot, without actually having to touch it. The emerald's like a piece of the sun, like matter heated to plasma state - I can tell its location clearly and far off without having to see or touch it. The Biolizard - she's a BIG heat source but not nearly as hot, and the Artificial Chaos - really it's the Drives I sense - they're similar intensity but a lot smaller. The Chaos rats and the other Chaos lizards I could sense faintly, but only if I knew where they were.

"Today...I could tell that the Chaos energies were upset, disorganized. When the Gizoid got back here the Emerald power was flaring like, like the sun does, and affecting the Chaos Drives - and the Biolizard, I think - the way solar flares disrupt telecommunications here and on Earth, if things aren't shielded correctly. It wasn't like that this morning before we went skating, and I don't know what happened after that.

"But right after the alarms started there was this...sort of surge of energy, powerful enough to make me dizzy for a moment. I don't know what caused it, or really what it was, even. Although I think that may have been when the Chaos Drives went strange." Finishing his speech - a fairly long one for him - Shadow dropped his gaze to his hands, wondering if _he_ could have done anything different.

"Hmmmm." Gerald considered this information, his face giving no clue to his thoughts.

Maria perched herself on the bed next to her grandfather. "So what happened to the Biolizard? Is she dead?"

"What? No," said Gerald, startled out of his thoughts. "Although something very odd has happened. You'd probably better come see what I've done...and what she has." He was looking at Shadow as he spoke, but Maria of course jumped up and came with them. Gerald didn't object, so Shadow assumed it was alright for her to come along.

The trio avoided the main passages, where various rescue and repair groups were hard at work repairing the Biolizard's damage; moving along the restricted or secret passageways of the research area where they still had to dodge repairs from the Artificial Chaos' rampage. Shadow was not surprised when they arrived at a door he'd never seen on the map, that led into the heart of the asteroid; it was in this region that he had located the Gizoid and the Professor three years ago, when he'd first learned about NIDS, and they had often been in the area in the following months. The door was locked both electronically and physically, with the usual warnings of dire results if unauthorized persons intruded. Gerald entered several codes, and wielded two different keys, then pushed the door open into another passage. A lift at the end of the short hallway required yet another key. They descended deeper yet, then the doors slid open onto a blackness that gave the impression of a vast space.

Gerald stepped calmly out into the darkness and immediately lights came up. The space was, indeed, enormous. To one end glimmered a force field of some sort, and amber streams of energy liquid gleamed fluidly as they tracked across the floor. At the other end...Shadow powered up his hover shoes without really thinking and glided across towards the strange construction. Three concentric levels, largest at the bottom, a flight of stairs up to the top - Shadow skated up the sloped "railing" at the edge of the steps - and, hmm, a sort of altar in the center of the top-most level. A half-dozen pillars ringed the whole thing._ Why does this feel familiar? _he wondered. Not familiar as in something he'd seen, but something he'd heard or read about. Or knew from his sleep-training. _Wait, it's not a half-dozen, is it. Not **six **pillars,but... _A quick count confirmed his suspicion. There were seven pillars in the ring. He looked down, where Gerald and Maria were arriving at the foot of the stairs. "It's the Knuckles' shrine," he said. "Why did you build a copy of the Knuckles' shrine here, Professor?"


	24. 6vi At the Shrine of the Eclipse Cannon

vi. At the Shrine of the Eclipse Cannon

"Look above you, Shadow," Gerald instructed the hedgehog. He heard his granddaughter gasp beside him as she also looked up. Hanging above the replicated shrine was a massive stalactite of machinery. Gerald regarded the object pensively as he continued. "This, my dears, is the focusing chamber for the Eclipse cannon. This unit has the ability to draw energy from the Chaos Emeralds and with enough power behind it could probably blow up the planet. I designed it to be used in case an asteroid or comet comes too close to Earth, though, and most of those would only require the energies from one or two Emeralds. This chamber is really just in case something comes up that would require the full energies to be used, as the shrine is designed to concentrate the Emeralds' energies on the focal point of the altar, and the tip of that machinery you see.

"As for the Biolizard - come on down Shadow - she's over this way." He'd caught Maria's hand when she started to step up on the lower stairs, now he guided her back across to the opposite end of the cavern. Shadow quickly joined them, questions clearly written across his face, although he remained silent. Maria reached out her other hand to clasp the hedgehog's; she didn't like this strange place. As they approached the force field, Gerald slipped his free hand into his pocket and fingered the device he still had there. The barrier became transparent, revealing the massive shape slumbering beyond. Maria saw the change first, and with a gasp, hid her face against her grandfather's sleeve. Although perhaps it was not so surprising, since Gerald realized that Shadow had never before seen the Biolizard.

He picked up the problem quickly though. "What? Professor, are those metal pieces grafted onto her? I thought the life support system was a separate thing-"

"It's supposed to be. It was yesterday. Somehow between yesterday afternoon and when I caught up with her in the hallways after she went berserk - her hide has melded with the metal. I don't know if the Chaos Emerald did that, or if it had to do with the sample of Black Arms blood I gave her, or what, but the metal pieces truly are a part of her now."

"You mean you can't take them off?" asked Maria, raising her head to stare at him in horror. "Her eyes..."

"Not at the moment, love," confirmed Gerald. "But it's not going to matter for now. She's become far too dangerous to have confined with so many people on the ARK. She'll have to remain in stasis until I can figure out what to do about her." He looked again at the end-product of his initial chao-DNA experiments. In addition to the life support system now intimately attached to her back and the tubes that led from there to her mouth, short sections of the tubing had somehow grafted themselves over her eyes and another now crowned the top of her skull. It did make for a rather macabre sight. "And she can still see, the pipes are just like binoculars; they protect her eyes and let her focus better," he reassured the distressed girl. The latter part of the sentence was a complete fabrication, and Gerald wasn't honestly certain that the beast _could_ still see. But she'd certainly had no trouble finding her way through the corridors or tracking her prey, whatever senses she was utilizing. "Over that way," he waved into the darkness, "is a set of doors we used to get the construction supplies and equipment down here to build the shrine and cannon. Dr. Jansen and I lured her down through them, and then I activated a stasis control I'd built into the life-support system in case of emergency."

Gerald and Ilya had alternated as decoys to lure the Biolizard gradually down to the depths (fortunately the doors had not yet been permanently sealed, though it had been scheduled to be done months ago). They could never had brought the Biolizard down the lift, she was simply too big even if she hadn't been out of control. For all her bulk and inability to stand, she was shockingly fast to strike with jaws or tail. Luckily she couldn't slither as fast as she could lunge. Once they had her in position, Gerald had triggered the stasis-lock on the life support system, while Dr. Jansen ran to fetch the force field generator. Gerald intended to come down later with some repulsor units and actually "hide" the Biolizard against the ceiling, to prevent anyone seeing her or freeing her accidently. _And I'd better go on and get that recording made for later_, he thought. _I don't dare tell Shadow too much, lest Black Doom detect a plot in 50 years, but he'll need to know the cannon's true purpose when the comet returns. At least I can go on and show him how to work it. And Maria, better that two should know. _

"Come on," he said to the pair as he returned the field to its opaque setting. Slipping an arm round Maria's shoulders he steered her towards the lift. "Let me show you the control room for the Cannon." Shadow cast a last look at his predecessor's resting place and paced silently alongside, still holding Maria's hand.

The trip up the elevator shaft was silent except for the faint hum of machinery. The hum was finally superceded by the rumble of the doors opening as the lift stopped. "Watch your step," warned Gerald. "There are no rails." And he led the way out of the car.

The control "room" was actually nothing of the sort - "control ledge" might have been more accurate. The narrow walkway led across the darkness of the upper cavern to a bank of computers built around the stalactite that was the power conduit of the Cannon and encircled them in a narrow band. Above the unit, seven depressions marked an otherwise smooth X-shaped plate, each shaped to hold a Chaos Emerald. Shadow noticed this at once. "But if the shrine is down there, why do you have sockets for the Emeralds here, Professor?" he asked, waving into the darkness below them.

"Because the precise placement of the Emeralds is crucial to ensure proper function. Actually, with just one or two Emeralds, you can activate the Cannon from the sockets, but if you have three or more, the altar is required to balance the energy flows properly. The machinery linked to that plate will ensure that they are properly positioned and oriented." Gerald was pleased that Shadow had recognized the sockets' purpose, and more pleased to note that the hedgehog grasped his explanation. Shadow nodded to himself, mumbling something that Gerald didn't catch. The Professor rested his hands on Maria's shoulders as they watched the black hedgehog walk cautiously around the computer bank, reading the controls and occasionally boosting himself on his hover shoes to get a better look at a component. When Shadow had completed the circuit, Gerald reached forward past his granddaughter to key on the cannon's computer.

"Now look, Shadow, and you too, Maria. This is the power switch, obviously, and then you need the password - one you should both be able to remember - 'Maria'." He keyed the letters in as he spoke. "It's really not likely that the cannon will need to be used," _anytime soon,_ he inserted mentally, _until the Black Comet returns_. "But if I'm not around when it does, then you should both know how to activate it." He ran through the steps twice, Shadow nodding slightly as he committed them to memory, and Maria lightly touching the pertinent keys without actually pressing them. After Gerald fell silent, she repeated the motions again, ghosting her fingers across the controls. She would remember, Gerald knew, she was his granddaughter after all, and as intelligent as her parents. And the Ultimate Life Form had, if not an eidetic memory, as close to one as made no difference. Anything he was told once, he remembered; anything he saw or heard, he could describe in detail - if you could get him to say anything at all. Gerald had actually been asked by a few people if the dokan was a mute, he spoke so rarely when out and about the colony. (Most people thought he was a dokan, knowing nothing about the Project: Shadow.) Of course, he was generally out and about with Maria, who would provide whatever conversation was required. She wasn't excessively chatty, but she liked people and liked talking to them. Gerald called his thoughts back into order.

He showed them the controls that would adjust the ARK's position to aim the cannon. Its size and the precise alignments required for powering it with more than two emeralds meant the weapon itself could not be turned; thus the entire space colony would need to be swung towards a target, then returned to it's proper orbital position. He showed them also the commands that could access the weapon even from Earth, although those were unlikely to be needed, as someone would still have to put the emeralds in the cannon before it could be used. He didn't bother to show them how to access the ARK's main computer from the cannon's, as they had full access to that already. Nor did he show them how to activate the rock shield, although he did show them how to deactivate it if necessary. The shield was a feature he had added during the installation of the cannon; if activated, it would fold in the "whiskers" that stabilized the colony during the cannon's firing (and were solar panels when the cannon wasn't needed) and generate a force field that would attract and hold meteors, asteroids and other space debris. The accretion of rubble would disguise the ARK as an ordinary asteroid again. In the unlikely event that the ARK was shut down for some reason before Black Doom returned, that might provide a surprise to him when Shadow or Maria threw off the shrouding debris and activated the cannon. Finally Gerald was sure they had down everything they needed to know to use the cannon. Maria had even forgotten her nervousness while focusing on learning the controls.

The professor flicked the power off again and led the way back across the bridge. Maria followed closely behind, keeping to the center of the narrow span, but Shadow paused in the middle and when Gerald stepped into the lift and turned, he saw the black hedgehog leaning over the unguarded edge, staring down into the darkness. He stopped himself from calling to him - it would not be a good idea to startle him, and Shadow was an adult, after all - presumably he knew what he was doing. However, it wasn't until Maria took a tentative step back onto the bridge that the hedgehog stood up straight and skated the rest of the way across. Gerald asked "What did you see?" but Shadow merely shook his head and remained silent.


	25. 7i Prelude to Tragedy

7.i. Prelude to Tragedy

"_The higher-ups are threatening to shut down this research facility. I have no choice but to hand them the Gizoid to buy more time..."_ Gerald sat in his lab, frowning at his own words recorded on the screen. Despite his best efforts the Gizoid was still at root programmed to equate weapons with power and to follow whomever displayed the most power. As he'd entered in his computer journal yesterday, he'd done everything he could to order the robot to absorb no more weapons or potentially lethal technologies; but as he'd also put in, all anyone had to do was show that they had greater power than he did.

Since he already knew that others had figured out how the link was formed there was no reason not to put his commands and concerns in the file, and good reason _to_ put them in; it would suggest that he believed the file to be unbreachable. Theoretically no one could access it except him, but he had computer skills enough to know exactly how accurate that theory was. If no one else, he knew that both Shadow and Maria could have easily broken into the file had they desired. He was fairly certain that someone in the government or military did read the things, looking for signs of treason or other problems; he was absolutely certain that keeping everything "squeaky-clean" would be a dead give-away that he was aware of the discreet surveillance and might lead to the activation of more problematic monitoring methods. So he recorded complaints in his diary - the same sorts of things all miliary or government employees complained about - along with bits of carefully chosen "secret" information and personal joys and sorrows. The things he truly wanted to keep secret, such as Black Doom, went down only on paper and were well hidden.

Today he was here to enter joyful news: he'd received word that he was a grandfather again! Ivan and Katherine had called at about 3 am ARK time to announce the arrival of their son Ivo Robotnik. Gerald's whoop had brought both Maria and Shadow running into the room, where the hedgehog watched in bewilderment while Gerald and his granddaughter joined hands and danced around the room._ We must have looked truly ridiculous, _Gerald thought now, as he keyed for a new entry and started typing, grinning at the memory_. Me, the "distinguished" elder scientist with my nightshirt flapping around my ankles and Maria in her pink nightie with one slipper missing. Although the look on Shadow's face was worth it_. He didn't particularly care, the news was too delightful to be diminished by a little thing like a loss of dignity. He'd already had a seat on the evening flight, when he was taking the Gizoid down to hand over to be returned to ARKauai, but now the flight had a much more joyful aspect, for while he was on Earth, he'd be going to meet his new grandson and congratulate Ivan and Katherine. He planned to stay about two weeks, then return to the Space Colony ARK. He'd just typed that in when he heard the quick tapping at the door. Recognizing the sound, he smiled even as he pushed away from the keyboard and called "Come in!"

Maria bounced into the room carrying a carefully wrapped bundle. "Can you take this to Aunt Katherine and Uncle Ivan for me, Grandfather? I made it for the baby." She unwrapped the outer blanket to show a neat little one-piece outfit on which she'd carefully cross-stitched a pair of baby chao and a chao egg. The bib folded underneath it matched, and one corner of the blanket had the pattern doubled (four chao and two eggs) in a wreath of flowers. Gerald was impressed, and made certain she knew it. He knew that she'd been working on something ever since they'd gotten word that Katherine was expecting, but she'd refused to let him see it. If a few of the stitches on the tiny garment were a little shaky, the other two items were practically professional in appearance.

"I'll give it to them as soon as I get there," he promised, accepting the rewrapped package from her and placing it carefully in his bag. "Now, you be careful while I'm gone. Take care of Shadow, and listen to him." And odd combination of commands, perhaps, but he was quite serious. Shadow was not and probably never would be as good with people as Maria was; there were some people who suspected him of being a spy for the dokan, and there were some researchers on the ARK that Gerald did not trust. But the red and black hedgehog had a more mature perspective that his twelve-year-old sister sometimes lacked, and extra care was needed now. After the disaster with the Biolizard and the Artificial Chaos, Gerald had discovered to his horror that it was not only the Chaos Drives that had unbalanced, but all chao-cell derived items. The changes in the energy fluid had been fairly easily corrected by altering the flows, but the Heal Unit servers were mostly off-line. Maria now had access to only one or two Heal Units a week; so far they seemed to be maintaining her health, but all three knew that it would only take one infection depleting her immune system to put her at risk for a legion of secondary illnesses. Therefore Gerald had pulled her out of school and she had restricted herself without being asked to their rooms, venturing no further than the observation room. Gerald also tried to limit his contact with other people to avoid bringing anything back. Shadow, of course, rarely went among the other people on the ARK anyway, but seemed to have limited himself to the Loop and Gerald's wing.

Maria nodded solemnly. "I wish I could go see the baby too. Tell Aunt Katherine and Uncle Ivan hi, and that I love them. And take care of yourself, Grandfather." She hugged him, and Gerald hugged her back. He was going to miss her greatly, even if he was going to be with other family.

"Yes, Professor, have a safe trip," Shadow had come in through the door Maria had left open. He smiled at Maria as she passed him on the way out of the room, then frowned at Gerald. "Do you have to give them the Chaos Emerald as well as the Gizoid?"

Gerald sighed. They'd been through this several times already. "If I don't give them the Emerald, then the Gizoid will be non-functional. Either they won't believe I've given them the correct robot, that I've lied - which will give them a reason to come after me - or they'll think it IS the right robot only I've sabotaged it and they'll still come after me. And if they come after me, the ARK will be shut down and everyone will be returned to Earth...and Maria will die." In truth the scientist didn't like the idea of giving the Emerald to GUN any more than Shadow did, but he'd been unable to come up with an alternative. No one had been able to duplicate the Emerald, and he'd never managed to get the Gizoid to run on Chaos Drives or any other power source but the one. He hoped he'd be able to recover the gem at some point, after the robot had been seen to work.

Shadow looked grimmer than ever, reminded of the threat to Maria. "As you say, Professor." He didn't like it, but he didn't see any way out either.

"Take care of her, Shadow. I think the Heal Unit Servers may be recovering, but they still are terribly slow at regenerating. Avoid other people as much as possible, and remind Maria to be careful. She is to use a Heal Unit if she needs it, but otherwise, try to wait until the charge for the next is nearly full." When a Server's charge was nearly complete, a light would come on and a new Unit would appear ten to fifteen minutes after the old one was removed. Before the disaster, the complete regeneration time had been around half an hour; now, a full charge required three or four days. It did seem to have shortened by several hours in the last few days, which Gerald hoped was a sign that the power was coming back into balance. But for now, the process was still terribly slow and between Maria, who used the Server in his lab, and a couple of chronic patients in the sickbay who depended on the two there that remained functional, there were no Units to waste.

"I will see to it, Professor." Shadow flicked a glance toward the clock on the wall. "You'd better go now if you don't want to be late. I'll look after Maria - and she'll look after me, I'm sure."

Gerald smiled to himself, was there just the trace of a smile on Shadow's face at those words? "I'm sure she will. Well, au revoir my son, I'll see you in two weeks." He picked up his bags.

"Have a safe trip Father."

Gerald could feel the red eyes following him out of the room. He hoped things would be all right while he was gone - but then, the Artificial Chaos were confined, the Biolizard in stasis and the Gizoid already loaded onto the shuttle, so he didn't see how anything could go wrong. "Famous last words," he muttered. "Oh Mary," he sighed, remembering her playfully insisting that talking to oneself was the first sign of madness, "I hope you can see your grandchildren from heaven. And what would you make of Shadow, I wonder?"


	26. 7ii Eternal Flame

ii. Eternal Flame

"Shadow, what do you think it's like on Earth?" Maria was pressed against the window in the observation room, staring out at the planet. It was a full Earth today, the entire visible portion glowing with reflected sunlight. A swirl of clouds mid-ocean showed where Hurricane Igor raged, far off the eastern coast of the visible continent.

"Pretty wet under those clouds," said Shadow. He didn't make jokes often, but he did tease Maria occasionally. She gave him a mock glare. With a smirk, he amended, "The Professor says that it's beautiful some places and terrible in others. There are a lot of happy, well-off people, but there are also a lot of people who need help, who live in dangerous areas or...poverty." The last sentence came out a bit unevenly, as Shadow had a good idea what dangerous meant but was not so certain about 'poverty'. Money wasn't really used on the ARK, most purchases being made with credit, and Gerald handled all such transactions anyway so Shadow was still a bit hazy on the concepts of rich and poor. He continued with more assurance, "The Professor said his life's work was dedicated to all of those who live down there. He once told that the reason for his existence was making people happy through the power of science."

Maria moved away from the window, sitting down on the floor next to Shadow. "That's what I want to do. Help people who are unhappy. I wish..." Her expression shifted, clouding over.

"Do you think I'll ever get to go down there, Shadow? Sometimes I feel like grandfather won't ever find a cure, and I'll be stuck _here_, forever, until I die. I don't _want_ to be stuck on the ARK forever - I want to _live_, to _do _things! I-" the torrent of words was interrupted by a sob, as the girl curled in on herself, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her forehead on them.

"Maria..." Distressed, Shadow crouched next to his sister, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "It will be all right Maria, trust me. Professor Gerald will find a cure, and we'll go down there together, you and I." In the immediate aftermath of the Biolizard's rampage, Gerald's discovery had been temporarily forgotten, but he had eventually gotten a chance to tell Shadow about the "healing" of the rat cells. The Artificial Chaos had killed the Chaos lizards and all of the Chaos rats except Silver, but fortunately the researchers had been able to recapture the other rats, and two sets of the NIDS affected rats were now undergoing therapy with extracts of Shadow's cells. Gerald had sworn Shadow to secrecy about the cell-based results and the new experiments; he was still afraid of getting Maria's hopes up about a cure that might fall through. Shadow disagreed; he knew, as Gerald did not, how Maria ended up in tears over her own fears every few months, but she kept that as secret from her grandfather as he kept his research progress from her. But the hedgehog had promised Gerald not to tell, and he had promised Maria the same thing; the one promise to be sure that Gerald at least kept _him_ up-to-date on the progress, the other so that Maria would have someone to confide her fears and grief to. But it hurt to know that only a few words kept him from easing her terrors by giving her a solid hope. He knelt next to her and hugged her as she twisted to sob into his chest fur, a rather awkward position for him, as she was nearly two feet taller than he, but the best comfort he knew how to offer. Leaning his cheek against the golden hair, the black and red hedgehog whispered again, "It will be all right, I promise you Maria."

Eventually the girl sat back, rubbing at her face and Shadow sank down more comfortably on his heels. Fishing in her pocket, Maria located a wadded tissue - but it had apparently been through the wash in the pocket at least once, as it was collapsed into a solid mass. She looked at it ruefully for a moment then gave Shadow a small smile, "Don't guess this will be very useful." With a sigh she started to stand up. Shadow bounced to his feet and offered her a hand, which she gratefully accepted. He followed her down the hall to the bathroom, where she pocketed some fresh tissues - which would probably go through the wash themselves several times before she actually needed them - and started washing her face.

"Do you think Grandfather's having a good time on Earth, Shadow?"

He looked up to see her watching him in the mirror. "I hope so. I know he was looking forward to seeing Ivan and Catherine again. He also said he was going to try to get in touch with the dokan while he was there, and I know he'd like that."

He looked down a moment, then back up at the face reflected in the mirror. "Maria? You've been writing to Jenny Curl..." Shadow hesitated, not sure if he should continue. He wasn't exactly certain what he wanted to ask anyway. But Maria turned to look at him questioningly as she hung up the hand towel she'd been drying her face with. As her reddened blue eyes met his scarlet ones, he pushed on through the question, even as a part of his mind insisted it was unnecessary. "You've been writing to Jenny, and you met Rafe and Todd...do you think the dokan...I mean, what would they think of me?"

It wasn't a fair question to ask, and it might have made more sense to ask Gerald, but Shadow suspected that Gerald would brush the question away with automatic reassurance - although the scientist would probably believe it himself - but not really think through the question or his answer. Maria might have less experience with the dokan, but she would give the best answer she could. He eyed the girl uncertainly, part of him still insisting that it didn't matter WHAT anyone else thought of him, but most of him hoping that he wouldn't be completely unacceptable to the dokan.

Maria didn't answer immediately. Pushing a lock of gold hair back out of her face, she instead regarded him a moment and gave him a return question, "Are you hungry?" At Shadow's nod she preceded him to the kitchen and they silently assembled a couple of sandwiches. It wasn't until they were nearly finished eating that she returned to the topic.

"Todd wouldn't care," she said bluntly. "Uncle Todd takes people as they are; as long as you're not trying to make him do or be anything _he_ doesn't want, he'll accept you the same way. I don't know how well you'd actually get along, though, your personalities are so different. He thinks of laws more as 'guidelines' usually, and never takes anything seriously, but he wouldn't mind that you're, um..." Maria frowned trying to think of a tactful term, but Shadow didn't give her a chance.

"An experiment," he finished for her. It was a fact, after all; and there was nothing he could do to change it. He'd come to terms with the fact himself, not that he had much choice in the matter; the problem was he wasn't sure how others would accept it. "So if Todd _wouldn't _care, the others would?"

Now the girl's frown shifted from concentration to actual unhappiness. "I don't know about all of them," she temporized. "I know that Jenny doesn't like the idea of Grandfather 'altering things'. She and Rafe know about the Chaos rats and lizards - not specifically I think, only that Grandfather had genetically altered them - and she doesn't like that idea much. And I get the impression that it's bad enough doing it to animals but to dokan would be barbaric. At best. She'd despise Grandfather, but what she'd think of the altered dokan - I'm really not sure, Shadow.

"And Rafe, I don't know him as well, but I think he just puts on a show of being as carefree as Uncle Todd, when he really cares more about...conventions." She was genuinely distressed to have to give Shadow the bad news, looking down at her hands in her lap. "Rafe said I could call him 'Uncle' too, when Uncle Todd did - I think _because_ Uncle Todd did - but he didn't really mean it. I'm human and even being an honorary uncle to a good friend's grandchild was...wrong...because of that. Not that I think he realized it himself, but he was relieved when I kept calling him Mr. Curl. And then later they said I could call them just Rafe and Jenny. But what he'd think of your... origins..." She trailed off, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.

Shadow wasn't particularly surprised. Most people on the ARK thought that he was "just" a dokan but there were a few who apparently suspected something...unusual...about his origins, and he knew how they reacted to him. He put a hand on Maria's to reassure her that he wasn't hurt or angry. "If they didn't know, if no one told them I wasn't an ordinary dokan, do you think they could tell?"

Maria looked back up at him, considering his appearance thoughtfully. "Not by looking, I don't think. I don't know if there are any other hedgehogs with stripes like yours, but the dokan seem to vary a lot in color and fur patterns, so I don't think that would really give away anything. And they're people, so there are all sorts of personalities represented. It's your abilities, really, that would be most noticeable. There aren't any hedgehogs who can run anywhere near as fast as you can, and the Chaos powers are unique, surely. But if you didn't use those, or run - actually, if you wore your hover shoes, they might credit your speed to those, so it'd just be the Chaos powers that set you apart.

"When are you going?"

Shadow blinked. _Going? Was I planning to go?_ He would go to Earth eventually of course, but now? _No. _Not yet, not when the professor was getting closer to achieving a cure for Maria. _So why did I ask? No dokan ever come here, except that one time, so why should I worry what they think of me, now? _He didn't know. He shrugged and smiled at the girl, evaluating her mood. "I can't go until you can come with me, you know. We'll have to tell the Professor to hurry up and fix you when he gets back." That made her laugh.

"You don't want to wait for me forever, Shadow. Maybe you should go on down and scout the terrain. That way, when I'm ready we'll know where we're going and who to help" There was an odd combination of serious and playful in her tone. The mature part of her knew the severity of her illness and believed she was unlikely to leave the ARK, but another part clung to hope, offering their familiar old game as a way of both suppressing her fears and laughing at them.

Shadow played along, suggesting both serious destinations and ridiculous ones for Maria to debate with him. Eventually Maria conceded the latest suggestion ("the sea bed to save the catfish from the dogfish"). "Oh dear," she said, wiping tears - of laughter this time - from her eyes. "I really had better go study. There's a test tomorrow on algebra, ick. It's really not fair, I'm stuck here, but they keep sending the tests and assignments on the computer anyway.

"Thanks for helping me cheer up, Shadow. And don't ever forget, even if other people don't like you: 'you're my brother and I love you', always. Like the stars out there, a light in the darkness in case you get lost."

Shadow hmphed at her. "I think you need to do creative writing rather than algebra. Go. Study. Or the professor will be mad at _me_ when you get an F minus minus."

Maria giggled at the idea of getting such a ridiculous grade. They were both aware that the worst math grade she'd ever gotten was a C-plus, and she helped most of the other students with their math. "Math just requires the right mindset, and I'm lucky enough to have it from Grandfather. And Mrs. Fahey says that my writing is too creative already.

"Seriously though, don't worry about the dokan, or people like Mokie. Yes, I'm well aware that he doesn't like you, I just wish I knew why. You know what is right, just do that and the people who matter will come around. I know you're a good person, and they'll have to see it eventually." The girl waved gaily in his direction and trotted out of the room.

Shadow wandered back towards the observation room. He wasn't as certain as Maria was that it would all work out so neatly; he suspected her usual optimism had gotten the better of her again. He smiled, though, at the 'you're my brother' quote. That was one of Gerald's family jokes; something about his grandmother's response to a cousin protesting about kissing another cousin goodbye, the original quote was "because he's your cousin and you love him". Maria loved the story, and liked to apply the phrase whenever she could. Reaching his destination, he stared out at the stars, brilliant against their black backdrops._ '...a light in the darkness in case you get lost.' _His memory offering up another quote, from an old movie. "Our love will last 'til the stars turn cold," he murmured.


	27. 7iii The End of the Beginning

**AN:** Prelude to Tragedy is the name of this whole chapter, really; the title of the first part of each chapter tends to reflect the whole chapter's theme. So, two more parts of 7 before we get to Chapter 8 Tragedy, which you are hopefully dreading if I've done my job right. I'm currently working on chapter 9 (if I catch up I'll have to drop back to once a week posting) which I think will be the last chapter - but then, I'd originally thought it would have 6 chapters. After that, I'm not sure what I'll do, since SEGA seems to be modifying Shadow's past again in the new game - fortunately it's after all of these events.

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iii. The End of the Beginning

Gerald hurried out of the main GUN headquarters towards the waiting taxi. It was done: the Gizoid was officially handed over to the Research Division and would be returned to Kauai. He had ordered the robot to obey Dr. Collins, who would be "escorting" it back to the island ARK, knowing that there were at least two people on Kauai who knew how to form a link with the Gizoid. He was certain that the commands he'd given it to absorb no more weapons and to avoid fighting would soon be countermanded by a new master. Still, as he had told Shadow, he did not see what else he could do. The Space Colony ARK would already be shut down if not for the bribe of the Gizoid; even that would probably not delay the fate by more than a year, and that much only if Gerald was VERY lucky. But the experiments with the rats and Shadow's cell extract were so promising - perhaps a year would be enough. For now, though, he pushed the worry aside and focused on the much more pleasant portion of his trip. Getting into the taxi he asked the driver to take him to "Robotnik Inc."

Arriving at the factory gate, Gerald stepped out of the taxi and was surprised when a guard stepped out of the guardhouse and paid the driver. "Professor Robotnik, sir, Mr. Robotnik asked me to escort you to his office. This way, please."

Gerald followed the guard through a maze of hallways and to a door set into a glass wall. On the other side was a large desk and chair, currently unoccupied. Off to the right Ivan was crouched nearly double with two other men, one clearly an engineer, the other - possibly a client? Ivan and the third man glanced up as Gerald was ushered into the office. "Hi Dad, be with you in two ticks." Turning to the engineer-type, Ivan instructed, "Okay Steve, we've got the dirt collecting subroutines straight, I think. Now we need to fix the problem with the carpet nap recognition. It won't do any good to sell a vacuum cleaner replacement that actually _eats _your carpet. And thanks for coming in to look at it Joe, I'll let you know when we're ready for some in-home tests." Smiling pleasantly, he saw the two men out of the office.

"So, Dad," he turned back to Gerald. "It's great to see you. Shall we go see Ivo and Katherine?"

"Please," answered Gerald. "Although I'd love a tour of the factory if we have a chance later."

"Count on it. I'd like to get your opinions." Ivan led the way to the underground garage, and grinned as his father realized that many of the cars had no wheels. "You like? It's an extension of the hover technology in my extreme gear. AND the cars are nonpolluting since they run on Chaos drives. Would you believe that the oil lobby has gotten them banned in several regions? They hyped up the 'mysterious and nearly undetectable radiation', leaving out the fact that said radiation has nothing but beneficial effects," Ivan scowled briefly as he pulled out into traffic. "Fortunately, we'd presented the mayor's and governor's offices with some of the first models - very convenient that this is the regional capital and the governor is here - and had already sold more to replace a portion of the city's motor fleet before Big Oil really noticed our 'dangerously experimental' vehicles. Ah well, it does fit the 'City of the Future' slogan to have flying cars." He laughed, and Gerald joined in.

Soon enough they turned into a neighborhood of large but not ostentatious houses and neatly-kept lawns. Ivan pulled into a garage and turned off the car. The two men were greeted at the door into the house by Katherine and the new baby. "Hi, Dad," she laughed, "glad you could make it. Here, _dear_, you're just in time..."she handed the infant to Ivan with a smirk and vanished into another room.

"In time?" started a bewildered Ivan, " in time for...oh. Um, would you like to see the nursery, Dad?"

Gerald, whose nose had already identified what Ivan was in time for, chuckled and gestured for his son to lead the way. While Ivan worked through the still unfamiliar routine of changing a diaper, Gerald got a good look at his new grandson.

_He looks like an egg!_ was his first thought. The baby's head, though still a bit odd-shaped from birth, was almost completely bald with just the slightest ginger tint hinting at the hair there would be. Ivo's eyes were still that ambiguous newborn shade; whether he'd inherited Mary's blue eyes, his mother's green, or would match his father's and grandfather's color was as yet unknown. His body was rather ovoid, baby-chubby, where Maria had been a slim child even at birth. Like Maria, though, he was fascinated by the bushy white moustache over his head and rather indignant that Gerald kept it out of reach of his clutching fists.

They rejoined Katherine and she took the baby back and dispatched Ivan to get drinks; Gerald pulled out Maria's baby gift and one from himself as well. Once Ivan returned, he opened the presents. They were most delighted, of course, by Maria's hand-decorated set of baby gear.

"But what are they?" asked Katherine, regarding the cross-stitched chao in perplexity. "They're cute, but I've never seen anything like them before."

"They're called chao," explained Gerald. "They live in the south, and the dokan keep them as pets sometimes. At one time they were thought to be messengers from the gods, and were offered gifts as pleas for good fortune." He did not mention his conviction that the mysterious sample from which he had developed so many creations and creatures was actually a sample of chao genes. Instead he told the new parents what he'd learned from Misty about raising chao: how they could take on characteristics of other animals while they were young, resulting in different appearances as they matured, even though all hatched looking the same but for color.

Before long though, Katherine had to excuse herself to put the baby and herself down for a nap. Gerald and Ivan went into the kitchen to sort out supper plans. Gerald found himself assigned to making a salad and roasting frozen french fries, while Ivan took the hamburgers out to the grill. He spent the next two weeks puttering around the house assisting as needed (ah, the nearly forgotten 'joys' of a new infant) and poking his nose around the new Robotnik Inc. Robot Division. The vacuuming robot was adjusted so it no longer tore up the nap of the carpets - it turned out it was a little mouse-like thing that scuttled around empty rooms or at night and collected small trash, dirt and dust. It also sorted out things like pins and coins and put them in its "nest" where they could be recovered; the nest also served as a recharge station. Gerald offered a few suggestions when asked, but mostly managed to remember his manners - it was Ivan's company, after all, not his.

He was sorry to say goodbye at the end of the two weeks, but glad to be going back to Maria and Shadow. He also suspected that even a helpful guest was more of an intrusion than anything with a new baby, but Ivan and Katherine had refused to hear of his staying in a hotel; he'd done as much as he could to help out, including simply staying out of the way at times. At any rate, he boarded the shuttle eagerly anticipating his reunion with his granddaughter.

He was so focused on his expected welcome that James Scott had to actually tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. Gerald blinked at him blankly a few time before his mind returned to the shuttle and recognized his fellow researcher. "James," he said and frowned. Something in the other man's expression made him lower his voice before asking, "What's wrong?"

"You haven't heard." It was a statement, not a question, and equally _sotto voce_ to Gerald's query. "Word is that one of us going back to the ARK is carrying the good old Bellerophontic letter. The ARK's going to be closed down, Ger, it's all over the research quarter but no one knows anything official. That lizard of yours breaking loose - that was the excuse they needed. They're going to evacuate the civilians and lock up all the Project: Shadow members. They say that Shadow's too dangerous to be left to run loose."

"Shadow? The Biolizard was contained, she's in stasis and will stay that way..."

"Not the lizard!" hissed James. "Those idiots in HQ can't tell RNA from DNA. You think they can tell the difference between Project: Shadow the lizard and Project: Shadow the hedgehog? Besides, they don't _care_; they just want to lock us down somewhere they can use our brains without paying for it. They're just after an excuse to declare the Colony a failure that can be pinned on _us_!"

"But..." Gerald struggled to comprehend what he was hearing. James Scott was a biochemist, one of the ones who believed that every facet of life could be pinned down and traced to specific chemicals and reactions in the body - but he was not the sort to panic over rumor. In fact, similar rumors had been floating around almost since the ARK's first chamber was completed. _And they were supposed to research the Gizoid before they did anything else; that was WHY I turned it over to them! If they shut down the ARK **now**, before I can finish the experiments...Maria... No, they can't._ How he could prevent it he didn't know, but he would not be returned to Earth before he finished his experiments. And Maria _could not_ be returned to Earth and live.

"Ger, do you hear what I'm saying, man?" The other man's intensity proved that he _did_ believe the current rumor.

"Yes, I hear you." He hated that nickname but there were far more important issues at the moment. "How do you know it's true this time? I've heard shut-down rumors before and it hasn't happened yet."

"Before, half the colony hadn't been trashed by a rogue dinosaur and a pack of oversized amoeba. People _died_ Gerald, **_soldiers_** died and that's guaranteed to arouse GUN. They're after our heads, all of us working on Project: Shadow, and they aren't going to believe that your little offshoots aren't part of the main program - you're the Project Director."

Gerald had considered the possibility of getting caught running his own projects that weren't exactly what he was supposed to be doing and decided the risks were worth the potential gain, but it had never occurred to him that he might be putting the rest of the researchers at risk. He blew a breath out through his moustache. He certainly hadn't intended to get anyone else into trouble, but he realized that James was right: the military would consider them all culpable, especially if they were in a scapegoat-hunting mood. Which they probably were, since the Artificial Chaos were only still on the ARK at their insistence - Gerald had fought to get them either disassembled or shipped to storage elsewhere, although in truth he hadn't really expected the things to go on a rampage.

"Look," he said finally, "don't panic. Let me talk to some people when we get beck to the ARK and see what I can discover. You and Talia start backing up the Project: Shadow info, but otherwise continue the experiments as normal. I'll let you know what else after I speak to my contacts."

The other man nodded, but said only, "Sounds like a good vacation," in a slightly louder voice as he returned to his seat.

Gerald's disembarked as quickly as he could when the shuttle landed and headed for his lab. Maria wasn't there to greet him, of course, because of the crowds but he realized halfway to his wing that he'd picked up a Shadow. He glanced back at the dark figure skating silently behind him as he strode rapidly through the corridors. "Is everything all right here, Shadow? How's Maria?"

"Fine. Very tired of being stuck in the wing, but otherwise fine. Did you have a good visit with Ivan and his family?"

"Oh yes, it was wonderful. Oh, Ivan and Katherine both say 'Hi' and Ivo says 'gyaa'." Gerald almost smiled at Shadow's snort. "Well at his age they don't say a lot more than that. Listen, Shadow," he gestured for the hedgehog to move alongside, "have you heard anything about an evacuation?"

Shadow frowned in thought a moment, then shook his head. "Nothing like that. Speculations on where the Biolizard came from - Maria liked best the one about the 'alien' blob monsters that regenerated a dinosaur and unleashed it on the space colony - most people seem to agree that it was a research project that got out of hand. How can this be a secret research facility if everyone knows about it?"

"It's secret because no one _officially_ knows. People guess, but as long as the government and military don't admit to it, it's still unofficial knowledge and therefore officially a secret." Catching Shadow's perplexed look, Gerald shook his head. "Humans aren't always logical people, or sensible. Look, I have something I need to do immediately; can you tell Maria I'm very sorry but I'll see her for dinner? I learned something on the shuttle - I hope its not true..." He didn't hear if Shadow acknowledged the request as he ducked on through the door to his lab, locking it behind him. His mind was already sorting through who he knew that might know something about the possible shut-down rumor, namely if it was real or fiction.

Ninety minutes later, he pushed back from his desk, rubbing his moustache thoughtfully. His contacts - he was still amazed that he'd gotten hold of them so quickly - all insisted that the plans were on hold until the Gizoid was evaluated; there were no plans currently to evacuate the ARK in the near future. Since one of said contacts was in charge of the shuttlecraft that would be required to effect such an evacuation and only one of the shuttles was currently prepped... either she was lying or there truly was nothing afoot. Gerald didn't think she was lying. But there were certain preparations he should go on and make.

He quickly set his computer up for recording, grabbing a clean lab coat and affixing his ID badge before he pulled it on. Facing the computer's lens, he hit the 'record' button and began to speak.:

"Shadow, my son...If you're listening to this, then the worst has happened; you need to know the truth. The government plans to shut down this research facility, within the year certainly, possibly in the next few weeks. The Biolizard's rampage is their excuse; they have declared Project: Shadow a danger to public welfare.

"The government plans to cease all of our research, and imprison all who know about you. I made a terrible mistake, Shadow... It's all my fault...making contact with that Comet," Technically the Black Arms had made contact with Gerald, but even on a tape that would not run until after he died, he could not bring himself to admit to his treasonous bargain, even if he had not KNOWN it was treason at the time. "Now listen very carefully:

"In fifty years the Black Comet will return, but it's not a comet. It's the habitation of an alien race called the Black Arms. Their leader Black Doom helped me in exchange for a pledge to deliver him some 'crystals' - I swear I did not know at the time that they were the Chaos Emeralds. He intends to utilize them somehow to enhance the power of the comet, then they plan to harness its powers to destroy this planet! The only way to stop them...was to develop a way to use the very power THEY intended to use AGAINST them. I managed to find out what Doom had done - he didn't alter your DNA, Shadow, but added a sort of virus - and nullified it. I think he intended to be able to control you, perhaps read your mind. I left a fraction of it, which seemed to enhance your ability to manage the chaos energies, but you should be able to resist him if you try. And you MUST try!

"Shadow...it's up to you and only you can stop them! I developed the Eclipse Cannon - it's the only weapon that can destroy that Black Comet. Shadow, you are the only hope to save mankind as we know it; the future of this planet depends on...you!"

Gerald nearly jumped out of his skin as Maria suddenly draped herself over his shoulders. "Don't worry, Grandfather. Shadow and I will protect this planet. Right, Shadow?"

Gerald clicked off the recorder and gave Maria a questioning look.

She blushed slightly as she stepped back, "I'm sorry, Grandfather, but you sounded so serious - Shadow won't let anything bad happen to the planet, I'll make sure of it.

"I wanted to tell you we've got dinner all ready, and ask when you'd be done."

"I'm done now, my dear," replied Gerald, standing up himself. "Just let me..." - a few button-clicks saved the recording and buried it deep in the computer's most protected regions - "...there! _"'We've_' got dinner all ready? You taught Shadow to cook in two weeks, when he hasn't learned in three years?"

Maria giggled and hugged him. "Noooo Grandfather. I've got dinner ready and Shadow's set the table. And you have to come eat and tell us all about your trip. I missed you terribly. Shadow missed you too but he won't say so..." She continued chattering all the way back to their quarters. Gerald followed along, pushing the future to the back of his mind temporarily. It was good to be home again.


	28. 7iv The Beginning of the End

iv. The Beginning of the End

The words and numbers flowed across the screen. Gerald had to actually cover his mouth to avoid a very undignified whoop, but that would have brought Maria and Shadow running and it wasn't quite time...but almost. He was all but there! He read the results a third time, then a fourth hunting desperately for the error, the bit he was misreading... _No. It's **real**! It's REAL!_ His heart pounded in his chest as if he'd been running a marathon. _I did it! I'm not overlooking anything, the therapy has CURED the gene altered rats! **CURED** them! Their DNA is cleared of the NIDS error; it WORKS!_

_Now if it will just work on humans..._ He'd used himself as a guinea pig before. He didn't have NIDS, of course, but this was just to see if humans had a different reaction to the extract, not to test whether it worked or not. There wasn't time to set up a proper test, ask for volunteers; he was worried by things he'd heard from ARKauai - and by some things he _hadn't_ heard. The Gizoid was there, the researchers were amazed - but he had no specifics and it worried him. It worried him more now than it had when he passed the Gizoid over. _If I'd known then what I know now...would I have handed it over?_

While on Earth he had gotten in touch with his dokan friends - even Todd, albeit briefly! - though he hadn't had a chance to visit them. Misty had shipped him a new book on the ancient Babylonian cuneiform and while awaiting the results of his current experiment, he'd gone back to work on the stone tablet that had been found with the Gizoid. He'd finally managed to get the entire text reasonably well translated, he thought. He retrieved a fresh sample of the potential cure from the lab fridge, and loaded a syringe while he frowned over his most recent translation results.

'_When the Gizoid had all it could absorb, it was the god of wrath and all was destroyed.' I do NOT like the sound of that. It already contained so much_ - he remembered the reams of material that had overloaded several computers - _how much more will it take to reach 'all it could absorb'?_ _I need to get that Chaos Emerald back, and soon. But how?_ He shelved the thought a moment as he swabbed his arm and then carefully injected himself with the extract. _Ouch! That stings_. After a moment the pain faded, leaving only the usual soreness of an injection. _James would think I'm crazy. They all would, testing this stuff on myself. I probably am, at that; but there's no TIME to go through the channels and it's in the best scientific tradition - of course that tradition doesn't tell you how many people died from their own experimentation._ But if there was no reaction, then he could tell Maria what he'd found, and if she wanted to try it...he had run the usual computer scenarios and cell culture tests and found no indications of probable toxicity in human tissues. But the computers were only as good as the data already entered, and this was a completely new product, not a slight variation on an antibiotic that already had good info on human reactions to 15 other variations; and the cell cultures could miss things simply by lacking body systems. Antifreeze itself did little harm to the body - but antifreeze processed by the liver could destroy the kidneys completely. Now he would see how his body processed and reacted to--

The Priority tones erupted from his computer, making him jump. He moved over and cued the communications link. A grim-looking colonel glared out of the screen. "Professor Gerald Robotnik, you are ordered to report to Alternate Research, Kauai immediately. A shuttle will arrive to pick you up in two hours. Be ready to depart at that time."

"What?" exclaimed Gerald. "I can't--"

"This is not a secure connection, you will be properly briefed on the flight. Two hours." The connection ended. Gerald was left gaping at the now-blank screen. _ARKauai. The Gizoid. What have I done?_

Two hours later he was boarding the shuttle as directed, a small suitcase in one hand. Maria had been distressed at his sudden departure; he thought Shadow might be as well, but the red and black hedgehog was often hard to read, even for Gerald. Gerald wasn't exactly thrilled himself, but... He'd left the pair in each other's care again, they complemented each other. He was met at the shuttle's ramp by two guards who silently escorted him to a seat. There were no other passengers and the guards returned to seats just behind the pilot's compartment. Once the shuttle had launched, one of the soldiers brought him an envelope, sealed and well-marked with restrictions and warnings. Opening it, he found that his forebodings were true. The Gizoid had gone on a rampage and destroyed most of the buildings on Kauai. Sixteen people had died and a number of others had been injured before GUN had managed to subdue the robot. Shivering with a sudden chill, Gerald remembered the translation from the stone tablet._ 'When it had absorbed enough...all was destroyed.' At least it only had the one Emerald. What might it have done with more?_ According to the report, the robot had eventually been mired with glue bombs that slowed it down long enough for a very brave volunteer to get behind it and remove the Chaos Emerald. Gerald frowned. _How did they remove the Emerald from behind? There's no way anyone could open the chest plate from behind. But you couldn't do it from the front with the robot fighting mad. _He rubbed at his moustache. Something didn't make sense. Unless they had some weapon too secret for even his clearance, which he supposed was possible. After all, Kauai _was_ - or had been - a facility for the research of just that sort of item.

He wondered why they had sent for him. _A court-martial, perhaps? Or whatever they call it for a civilian employee. _He _had _warned them about the robot, but knowing the government and the military, they'd still consider it his fault. No matter what, he had to get back to the ARK in time to finish his experiments and cure Maria. With the sort of macabre fascination that drew people to watch videos of disasters, he read and reread the report until the shuttle landed. Tucking the envelope into his bag, he unstrapped himself and walked up the aisle to the exit. As he reached the top of the ramp he stopped cold.

It wasn't Kauai. This island had a large fort-type of military installation and a lot of raw jungle, not the sprawling research facilities and "tame" jungle he was familiar with. No one would be strolling through that vegetation; you could hike if you had a machete, but it would be hard work. "Where are we?" he asked his escort. He received a sort of grunt and a wave of the hand towards the massive installation. '_I've got a bad feeling about this',_ he thought, mentally quoting Han Solo as he moved towards the concrete fortress.

Once inside he realized he was on Prison Island. A place where, rumor had it, no one escaped and few left; the place where James Scott had been certain all the Project: Shadow researchers were going to end up. He sat for over an hour in a nearly bare lobby with a couple of ten-year-old _National Geographics _and a very fake potted plant that was more dust than plastic as the only points of interest. Finally he was admitted to the base commander's presence and informed that he had been brought down to repair the Gizoid. Clearly the uncontrolled actions of the robot were a malfunction of some sort, and he was expected to repair and reprogram it as needed to make it into a controllable weapon. The power it possessed was clearly quite exciting to the commander, who seemed to think the robot merely needed a slight adjustment to keep it from going out of control again. The fact that it had destroyed a base and killed sixteen people was only a concern because it was their own base and people. Just a bit of fine-tuning to point it at enemy targets and everything would be fine.

In vain Gerald protested that he had a critical experiment in process, that he was his granddaughter's guardian and she was alone on the space colony, that the Gizoid was inherently uncontrollable as he had stated from the first. None of this mattered, he could return to the ARK as soon as the Gizoid was "fixed". Finally Gerald gave up and let himself be escorted to his new quarters, a bedroom, bathroom and lab with the Gizoid already in residence. The Chaos Emerald, he was told, was in one of the base's storage safes and would be available when he needed it. There were no bars in evidence here, but he'd come through several doors that would have done good duty as air locks. He would not be leaving until they let him go. Silently he dropped his bag on the dresser top and went into the lab, where he gazed at the Gizoid and considered his options. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could (he hoped) leave. At least Maria and Shadow were safe on the ARK, and he could look forward to her delight at learning he had discovered a possible cure - as soon as he got out of here. With a sigh he sat down and started replotting the Gizoid's circuits, hoping for an inspiration.

Miles over his head, a fleet of GUN shuttlecraft were gathering around the Space Colony ARK, gliding into the docking bay one after another to pick up their loads of bewildered civilians. GUN soldiers patrolled the corridors, escorting those who were called to each shuttle in orderly fashion and ensuring that those who were not yet called remained in their quarters. The school was evacuated first, the sickbay and research wing would be last to allow patients to be prepared for transport and experiments to be put on hold. Or so the announcements claimed. Not even the soldiers patrolling the medical and research sections were aware that in reality, no evacuation was intended for those areas. A second group of soldiers, aloof from the ones running the evacuation, had quietly disembarked and were preparing their equipment in the now-vacant classroom. Once the civilians were all clear, they would relieve the soldiers patrolling the medical and research wings. However, patrolling was not part of this group's orders.


	29. 8i Tragedy

8.i. Tragedy

Shadow and Maria waited in one of the side chambers in the sickbay area. Following the broadcast instructions, they had left Professor Gerald's wing and gone to the medical area to await evacuation with the other patients who required special treatment. Since Maria did not live in the medical center, they had been sent to wait in one of the private consultation rooms. Shadow "paced", two long skating glides from one wall to the opposite, then two more back to his starting point. Something about this evacuation did not seem right.

Maria sat on the couch, with a Heal Unit lying next to her; her last one, perhaps, since they could not be generated on Earth. Shadow suspected that much of her interest in the evacuation broadcast was forced, as she tried to avoid thinking about her probable fate once they arrived on Earth. He had been assured that they would have special quarters prepared for her, and he knew that her immune system was currently working normally, but he knew also - and knew that she knew - that after this last Heal Unit was used the toxins would erode her white cell function and render her completely vulnerable within a very few weeks. At the moment, though, she appeared intent on the evacuation news being shown on the colony screens.

"Shadow?" He stopped his frustrated back-and-forth glide and looked at the girl. Maria was frowning at the screen. "Look at this - do you notice anything...odd?"

The black and red hedgehog turned to regard the current clip. His brows drew together as he frowned. "Why are they re-running part of the evacuation?"

"They aren't - well, they say they aren't. That's supposed to be Section G-8."

"Those people live in B-section, near the Loop, and we saw them evacuated over an hour ago." Shadow felt his heart rate start to speed up. Something was very wrong, he _knew _it. He just had no idea what, or what to do about it.

"That's what I thought," Maria agreed, "but I wanted to see if you thought so too. What do you think it means?"

Shadow caught the tremor in her voice, and moved to sit next to her on the couch. "Probably nothing," he lied reassuringly. Someone got the video feeds mixed up perhaps." He placed a hand lightly on top of hers. "Have they said anything more about _why_ we're being evacuated?"

"N-no." Maria pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, bracing her heels on the edge of the cushions. "Just the same 'Nothing to worry about, just a precaution' stuff they've been saying all along. If there's really nothing to worry about, why do we have to go?"

"I don't know," Shadow admitted. "But if there's really nothing wrong, maybe they won't actually take us down to Earth. Maybe that's why sickbay and the research wing are being left until last, in case they can fix the problem and not have to interrupt the experiments or risk the patients that _need_ to be here." He didn't believe a word of it himself, and whether Maria did or not he couldn't tell. They both regarded the screen on the wall opposite, where the first shuttles were shown disembarking their passengers on Earth.

"Hey! There's Mokie!" Maria exclaimed. "But, his parents are researchers, they're supposed to still be here."

"They evacuated the school first," Shadow reminded her. "His parents probably are still here–" He broke off, listening. There, an odd sound - and a loud scream that made Maria jump.

"Shadow! What–"

"Stay there," he ordered, moving to the doorway and looking out. Seeing nothing he glided silently up the hall and peeked around the corner into the doctors' lounge. A soldier stood there, over two bodies lying on the floor. As Shadow watched, one of the men on the floor stirred, and the soldier fired again, his gun producing the odd muffled sound that had puzzled the hedgehog the first time.

Shadow ducked back before he was seen. Mind racing, he skated back to Maria and grabbing a hand pulled her off the couch. "Don't make a sound," he warned her. Then they exited as quietly as possible through the empty waiting room, away from the lounge and the victims within.

Once out in the main halls, Shadow cut off his skates and started to run. The skates were quieter and faster, but Maria could not run so fast, nor so quietly and leaving her behind was not an option. Shadow still wasn't sure what was going on, but there was an escape pod in the Professor's lab and if people in GUN uniforms were shooting doctors he intended to take Maria and get out. As they pounded down the corridor as fast as the girl could go, they heard other guns firing - not all muffled - and screams.

At the first scream Maria tried to hesitate, but Shadow clung to her hand and pulled her on. The second scream, after a round of gunshots, seemed to spur her to greater speed - but she was unused to the effort and even a cheetah's best would have seemed too slow to Shadow at this point. They turned into the research area and almost tripped over a body lying in the hall in a puddle of blood. Maria whimpered, but kept running; Shadow squeezed her hand in helpless sympathy. They were nearly at the observation room when everything went wrong.

Shadow was pulling Maria on as fast as she could go, hearing nothing now over their own breathing and the pounding of their feet on the floor and his heart in his ears when - "Stop!" a voice rang out behind them.

Shadow glanced back at Maria panting desperately behind him, looked beyond her to see a quartet of soldiers in the doorway. Then, the girl stumbled. Her hand pulled free of Shadow's grip. He skidded to a stop and looked back again to see her hesitate, looking back, then start towards him again; the lead soldier raised his gun... and fired.

"Maria!" She stumbled forward as if shoved, raised one hand to her other arm - then reached towards him desperately as she started running again. He grabbed the now-bloody hand she extended and dragged her after him, ducking into the lab, spinning back to hit the door's lock pad as she ran for the controls to the capsule.

"Shadow, get in!" she ordered, "I'll just set it for launch..." The fingers of one hand flew over the keys but she leaned against the control unit for support. He could see the blood on her other arm - and realized they'd left the Heal Unit back in sickbay. No time now...he opened the door to the capsule and turned back towards the girl.

"Open this door!" came from the hall, followed by a gunshot, a second shot - and the door flew open. The soldier stood in the doorway, gun raised. "Miss, get away from that panel! NOW!"

Shadow couldn't move. He stood there in the doorway of the capsule feeling like his heart was lodged in his throat. Maria stopped her tapping. Placing her good hand flat on the console, she slowly stood up straight, glancing sideways at the soldiers as if afraid to look at them directly. She swayed slightly as she shifted a glance to Shadow...then grabbed the release lever and pulled it as she sprang for the capsule.

For Shadow time all but stopped. His own voice rang in his ears " Maarriiaa!" The gun fired, he saw the girl spin in a full circle, a spray of blood from somewhere, he flinched back, just momentarily - but it was long enough. Suddenly time sprang into motion again - the capsule slammed shut as the lab's secondary door dropped from the ceiling; intended to keep air from escaping the ARK when the capsule was launched, it also shut the soldiers out. Shadow, suddenly trapped in the capsule, pounded his fists futilely against the clear walls. He could see Maria, lying face-down on the floor. Slowly, she lifted her head, propping an elbow under herself, "Shadow..."

"What? Maria..."

She shook her head slightly, gasping for breath. "Shadow...I beg of you... Please, do it for me...for a better future..."

"Maria!" He had to get out, he had to get the door open to help her!

"...for all the people who live on that planet..." Her voice was fading, but her eyes burned brighter than he could ever remember seeing them - this was that important to her, "...give them a chance to be happy. Let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason that you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow the hedgehog." Her head drooped slightly, the arm supporting her trembled.

Shadow was standing still now, both hands flat against the capsule wall. "I will, Maria. I promise you, I'll help them. I–" his voice broke, he knew he could do nothing now, but he had to make her believe this much, "I promise. I love you." The capsule shifted and dropped, down through the floor; he thought he saw Maria collapsing again as he was ejected from the ARK. He collapsed himself, huddling on the floor of the escape pod, sobbing for the first time in his life. She was gone, dead, murdered by the soldiers, but WHY?! He didn't know, he wasn't sure he cared - all that mattered was the fact that he had been supposed to take care of her and he hadn't. He'd been trapped in the capsule for flinching back when he should have gone forward; he should had sent her into the capsule while _he_ set the controls; he should have...he should have done SOMETHING to save her, or prevent her getting shot. He had failed. He was the Ultimate Life-form but he had failed to protect his sister. But he would keep his promise to her. He could do that much at least.

Curled up in a ball, he didn't notice the restraining field activating, preventing him from moving. Preoccupied with shock and grief, he barely noticed odd odor as the capsule released its sleeping gas. The pod could bring up to three people down alive safely, but not comfortably, so all passengers would make the descent asleep in the restraining fields. Unfortunately for Shadow, although the gas induced sleep, it did not prevent nightmares.


	30. 8ii Misinformation

ii. Misinformation

Gerald rubbed at his face as he left his quarters and headed for the mess hall. He ignored the soldiers along his path, pretending not to see them, and they returned the favor. Guarding the Think Tank was a favored position but usually dull; most of the scientists, having seen the guards and gates on the way into the facility, focused on finishing their tasks rather than trying to break out early. Gerald had spent all day trying to decide what to do with the Gizoid. His first thought was to try to damage the core in some fashion, so he could display the damage and declare himself unable to repair it; he wasn't certain what would happen to him if he did that, but at least the Gizoid would no longer be a threat. Unfortunately it had proved impossible to damage the robot's core "brain" unit by any method in the past, so that wasn't feasible. He had re-sketched the circuits and was wondering if he could apply a bit of an old experiment of Mary's. She had been trying to work out a way to not merely emulate but generate emotions. If he could instill some sort of 'care' into the Gizoid's core - he could alter it some, even if he couldn't destroy it or make it destroy itself - but if he could make the robot actually care about others rather than merely respond to power, or military might, perhaps he could make the robot restrain the destruction itself. He'd spent most of the day wrestling with variations on that theme and hadn't realized until dinnertime that he'd missed lunch. He was still turning the problem over in his head, so it took him several minutes to realize something was very wrong.

It was his first time in the mess hall, but everyone else kept stealing glances at him and looking away. Looking around, he saw that some faces wore rather shocked expressions, others were sympathetic. And everyone kept whispering but stopped when he looked at them. Was it because of what the Gizoid did to Kauai? Perhaps some of them had been there or had friends– He jumped as a hand tapped him on the shoulder. There was a soldier behind him.

"Would you come with me, sir? The commander wishes to see you." The soldier was absolutely deadpan, his face and tone giving no clue as to what was going on. Gerald began to feel the first stirrings of anxiety overcoming his bewilderment. He nodded dumbly and followed the soldier out the door and down the hall.

Like the soldier that had escorted Gerald, the base commander was completely expressionless as he watched the scientist enter the room, merely indicating with a gesture that Gerald should sit in the chair opposite the desk. Gerald sat, the soldier saluted and left, and the commander continued to regard Gerald silently for nearly a minute. When he cleared his throat, the sudden noise almost made Gerald jump.

"Professor Gerald Robotnik, it is my unfortunate task to provide you with some rather unpleasant news." Another pause followed. Gerald sat unmoving and as expressionless as he could manage, but his mind jumped into full panic mode. 'Unpleasant news' surely had to mean a 'disaster' of some sort; had something happened to Ivan or Katherine - or the baby? He knew the Gizoid was in his lab and powered down, this sounded too serious to be some of those injured in the destruction of the ARK dying - he pulled his attention back as the commander spoke again. "There has been an accident on the Space Colony ARK. Another research project went out of control. We were able to evacuate most of the civilians, but your granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, was regrettably not one of those we were able to save." Another pause, the commander regarding Gerald closely.

Gerald blinked, not quite comprehending, "You couldn't evacuate her...so she's still up there? The lab, the whole wing can be isolated in case of a colony breach–"

"–No," interrupted the commander, "we were unable to evacuate her because the Project: Shadow had already killed her." He slid a paper across the desk, Gerald automatically picked it up and looked, though it felt like his brain had gone numb. 'Known Casualties' was across the top, followed by a list of names. One leapt out as if printed in neon - 'Maria Robotnik'. Somewhere a still-functional bit of brain pointed out that nearly every other name on the list was either a researcher or a doctor. The few that were not were the patients that could not be evacuated to Earth without risking their lives.

_Wait. Did he say_ "Projec-" His voice gave out. Gerald swallowed against a totally dry throat and tried again. "Project: Shadow?"

"Yes. For the second time your Project: Shadow has gone rampaging through the Space Colony. You had designed the colony supposedly to ensure weapons could be tested safely, and you had allowed this...creature, this unstable weapon to wander at large despite it's prior rampage.." the commander went on but Gerald wasn't listening. _Prior rampage? They can't mean the Biolizard got loose again! I made certain... But SHE never had freedom to wander around the ARK, only Shadow did... But if they mean Shadow - he never threatened anybody. Or anything, except when he was **defending **soldiers from the Artificial Chaos, and then it was the attacking robots he went after. Anyway, Shadow wouldn't- he **couldn't **harm Maria! They don't know the difference between the prototype and the current Project. Or they're overlooking it... What did he just say?_

Gerald gave a start, saying "I'm sorry, sir?" He had the feeling he'd just missed something.

The commander frowned. "I said, would you care to speak with the soldier who witnessed your granddaughter's death? He had asked to extend his condolences in person."

"Umm, yes." She couldn't really be dead. It had to be a trick, for some reason, maybe to make him more cooperative about the Gizoid...

The commander tapped a button on his desk and after a moment another soldier came in. This one was not expressionless, he wore a look of sorrow that triggered Gerald's nervousness again. _It's an act. He's putting on a show for me, Maria CAN'T be dead, Shadow would protect her._ Part of him wasn't buying it though...

"Professor Gerald, sir? I– I'm Lieutenant Graves. I– We were on a training run in the fizz-field when we got the alarm from the ARK. Other squads were dispatched to evacuate as many people as possible; our group was detailed to try to access the Research and Medical areas, where there was apparently some sort of disturbance. We landed in the hangar and proceeded towards the sickbay. When we arrived we found that many of the medical personnel had already been killed." The soldier fidgeted with his belt a moment then detached a small picture viewer, holding it so Gerald could see the screen. A button-press and it lit up showing a scene of one of the medical lounges, with several bodies visible, lying in blood. As the soldier hit the button a few more times, more pictures flashed up, some of the bodies appeared to have been beaten, others the cause of death was unclear, but the blood and postures made the fact that they were dead all too clear.

"While we were searching the area for survivors or the attacker, one of our troops spotted the Project fleeing with a girl, dragging her after him." Another click, another picture- this one of Shadow himself, dragging Maria after him as she looked back in fright towards the camera. _That's a security shot, from the camera in the hall outside the observation room. It's not Shadow she's frightened of, it's something out of view of the camera. But it's a beautifully selected shot. If I didn't know she was fleeing **with** him, I might think she was trying to get away from him. _The soldier continued, "We followed them to a lab where the creature pulled the girl in and locked the door. By the time we got the door open, the thing had already killed the girl and made good its escape in an emergency pod." Another click, and--

"NO!" Gerald yelped, snatching the viewer from the soldier, "MARIA!" He couldn't believe it, it was a fake, it MUST be a fake! And yet... Maria was sprawled on the floor in his lab in her own puddle of blood, one hand stretched in the direction of the missing escape pod. Gerald could see a trail of blood down the console that controlled the pod; she'd been injured before they'd gotten to the room. She must have been dead before Shadow left - he couldn't imagine the hedgehog leaving without her for any other reason, but he still did not believe that Shadow had killed her. "No!" he repeated, "It's a trick, it has to be a fake!"

I'm terribly sorry, sir," said the soldier softly; he actually had tears at the corners of his eyes. "It was too late by the time we got there. There was nothing we could do to save her...but, she said - before she died - she said to 'Tell Grandfather, to bring hope to humanity.'"

Dimly, out of the corner of his eye, Gerald caught the commander sitting up suddenly and frowning at the soldier. The soldier appeared not to notice the commander, or the tear that now slid down his own cheek, as he repeated. "'Bring hope to humanity', she said. There was nothing we could do, but stay with her. She didn't suffer for long, sir, I promise." He stopped, apparently overcome, glancing at the commander for permission to leave, which was granted.

Gerald looked down at the viewer which he had in his hand. The horrible scene was still there. He shoved it at the commander's desk - it must have made it, he didn't hear it hit the floor - and stumbled out the doorway. He wasn't aware of his escort until a hand caught his arm and kept him from walking into a box someone had left in the hall. The soldier - he thought it might be the one that had escorted him from the mess hall - tugged at his arm and he numbly allowed himself to be led back to his room. His brain seemed to have shut down, only that ghastly image of Maria, the long-ago memory of finding Mary dead in her own lab, and the certainty that Shadow was NOT involved cycled through his mind endlessly; but even that was at a remove, as if he was watching a slide show through a window, or hearing a story about someone else. There was food on a tray on his desk, he found himself sitting in the chair in front of it. The soldier was saying something, but there was no sense, only sounds. There was food there, so he started to eat. There was no taste, no odor, only the feel of the textures and the muscles in his jaw working. The soldier seemed satisfied, at any rate he left. When there was no more food, Gerald sat and stared at the empty dishes for a while. Eventually he got up and went to the bed, lying down fully clothed and pulling the blanket entirely over his head, like a child hiding from monsters in the dark, even though he'd left the lights on.


	31. 8iii Lost

iii. Lost

Gerald woke up because the lights were shining in his eyes. _I left the lights on? _He blinked at his arm, still clad in shirt and lab coat sleeves. _What? Usually if I work late enough to leave the lights and my clothes on its because I've fallen asleep at my desk. Surely Shad– oh!_

Memory crashed around him like an avalanche and he sat straight up. He wanted to scream, to weep, to deny it all, but that one, final image remained with him despite all attempts to convince himself it was faked. "Maria," he whispered. He closed his eyes in agony as he remembered how close he had been, only weeks, perhaps days from a working cure– and all for naught. An accident had undone all his work and destroyed his purpose. He frowned, his mind skipping to a new topic from one that hurt too badly, _So what WAS the accident?_

Whatever had happened, it was not Shadow's fault, he was certain of that. Shadow and Maria had been fleeing something _together_, in spite of the careful picture editing. He couldn't figure out why Shadow had left without Maria, though. If the GUN soldier had been there when she died, she must have been alive when Shadow ejected... _He wouldn't do that. Actually, I'd have expected him to take her body with him if she'd died that close to the pod, rather than leaving it to the 'enemy'. Her blood was on the control column, though, she must have been injured while she was setting it– Oh Lord! _Gerald sat up straight. _The automatic setting - if the attacker got in before she got into the pod, and Shadow was already in it, the door might have closed on him; even Shadow couldn't break out of an escape pod._ He could imagine the hedgehog's distress as he saw his sister falling outside the capsule, inches away but out of reach._ Poor Shadow._ _But where is he now? The pod should have brought him down to Earth...where? _The pods were programmed to find safe landing sites and then emit a distress call as well as link up directly to the GUN satellite net and tell the Primary HQ exactly where they were. Suddenly motivated again, Gerald moved over to the computer on his desk and powered it up.

Access was restricted, of course, but he worked his way through the maze of passwords until he was able to access the Prison Island main data banks. What he needed was not there, but he was able to connect to the Eclipse Cannon's core computer, and through that access the ARK's mainframe. Security camera files had been wiped, there were no recordings in the computer anywhere that he could find, and the files had been overwritten so that they were unrecoverable. _Suspicious. For a mere accident, why erase **and overwrite **ALL the security recordings? _However, he was able to determine that the escape pod in his lab had indeed been launched, with a single occupant - a dokan of some ilk by the height and body temperature. Since there was only one dokan on the ARK, it was simple enough to deduce who had been in the pod. But he couldn't find where the pod had gone - either that part of the programming had failed, or someone had wiped the info. He was able to confirm that the Biolizard was still where she was supposed to be, suspended in stasis near the Eclipse Cannon; the monitoring for that was only maintained by the Eclipse Cannon's computer, and hidden from anyone who didn't know what to look for.

Gerald sat back, drumming his fingers on the desktop and thinking hard. Either GUN had traced the pod - using the ARK computer or by some other method - or they hadn't. If they had, they would certainly track the capsule down...and do what? They'd consider Shadow their property. He might come peacefully, if they didn't try to command him, but if they tried to treat him like a robot or some sort of property there'd be trouble. Maria - _oh, Maria! _- could order the hedgehog around, insisting it was her prerogative as his big sister, but he bristled at anyone else, who tried to command him, even Gerald. Although he was usually cooperative enough if asked. _GUN won't ask. The military doesn't ask, especially when they consider something theirs. _That he knew from personal experience. If GUN ended up with him, they'd probably bring him here. With Kauai destroyed and the space colony shut down, Prison Island was probably the best place to hide secret weapons. Or people.

On the other hand, Shadow might escape GUN, or they might not have been able to track down the pod. _In which case, what? It will depend on where he landed. Some countries don't like dokan, but I think most places would try to 'return' him to the South, rather than imprison or kill him. I pity the person who tries either. If he ends up South... He'll probably try to get in touch with Todd or the Curls, or maybe Misty. He knows they're my friends, and would be able to get in touch with me - at least, if I actually was on Kauai - or Ivan. His best hope would be for the pod to come down in the South, I think. I doubt the dokan could tell he wasn't a 'normal' hedgehog, unless he showed off his powers._ He snorted to himself. Shadow had demonstrated his abilities and the Chaos powers at Gerald's request, but once they knew what he could do he never really used them except– _oh Maria, how could you be dead! _Gerald dropped his head onto his folded forearms and sobbed, remembering the golden head so close to the black-and-red one as the two set up the next course for the hedgehog to run. Shadow had shown off his prowess for her - he would have fought for her, Gerald was certain. So _what_ had happened up there that had resulted in him missing and her dead? There were no other projects that could have caused damage to the whole ARK; only Shadow, who _would_ not have, and the Biolizard, who _could_ not have, as she was still in stasis in the Core. So what could have gone wrong? A mechanical fault? But that would not be something you could run from, and Shadow and Maria had clearly been running away from something...had the Black Arms returned? The Comet was past perihelion and moving away, but if Doom had decided to change the course... No, he would have heard about that, the astronomers would have been in fits if the comet started traveling of its own volition. His mind continued to race around, scrambling to make some sort of sense out of what he knew, until he ran out of tears, and eventually a soldier turned up with a tray of breakfast and orders to watch Gerald eat it.

For the next several days, he moved in a trance, collecting bruises from walking into objects that he didn't really see, eating only if the food was placed in front of him. The frantic spin of his thoughts that first day gave way to a sort of blank numbness; thinking about anything was too much effort, so he spent a lot of time staring into space not really thinking at all. Orders to continue his work on the Gizoid fell on ears that were not exactly deaf, but registering more noise than sense. Then one morning he woke up with a sudden burst of purpose.

When the soldier showed up with the breakfast tray, he found Gerald's desk covered in heaps of papers, and the scientist himself peering into the Gizoid and jotting illegibly onto yet another page. He glanced at the soldier, looked at the tray and said "Oh, just put that somewhere," as he trotted into the lab proper. The somewhat bemused soldier placed the tray on the neatly-made bed, uncertain as to which papers could be safely disturbed and started to follow the professor only to backtrack rapidly as the scientist hurried back out, carrying boxes and trailing several cables.

"Um, sir," the soldier started.

"No time to talk lad! Yes I see it, I'll eat when I have a chance. Now if you wouldn't mind," advancing with a cable's plug in hand Gerald made the soldier move aside so he could hook it up to the wall outlet, "I'm rather busy right now." He proceeded to ignore the bewildered soldier completely until the other man finally gave up and left him to his work.

For work he had. He had woken up that morning with the idea that if he could give the robot emotions - not merely make it 'care' as he'd originally planned, but make it emulate the effects of a conscience, a soul, it would be much less likely to kill without reason. And the best soul, the most peaceable one he knew, was Maria's. Surely preventing the destruction of an entire civilization (if not all life on Earth, given the sorts of weapons the Gizoid might nowadays encounter) would fall under the heading of 'bringing hope to humanity'. A fitting tribute then, in two ways: it would let her legacy live on; and fulfill her last request. If he could get it to work. He had ideas, but it would take a great deal of planning before he could implement them, and a great deal of care that the GUN commander didn't find out what he was doing until he was done; for Gerald was well aware that effectively disarming the robot (which was exactly what his plan would do if it worked) would not be looked on with favor by the military. But with Maria dead...there was nothing to prevent him; if GUN kept him imprisoned here forever, well, Ivan and Katherine would miss him, but they didn't NEED him, not the way Maria had. And Shadow– _If he's picked up by GUN he'll almost certainly be brought here, so that's all right. _Gerald spared a brief prayer for his missing 'son' and continued his preparations.

**A/N : **I made a few edits to 6iii Modulation, mostly to fix some run-on sentences and other grammatical glitches. It looks like I'm going to go on into a tenth chapter as well, so there's more to come. I really appreciate all the comments and compliments, thanks!


	32. 8iv The Truth Discovered

iv. The Truth Discovered

For three or four weeks things seemed to go well. Gerald worked obsessively at his project and the soldiers basically left him to it. After the third time they'd asked for a detailed report and he'd gone into full scientific lecture mode - including a large proportion of polysyllabic words and incomprehensible diagrams - the questions had been reduced to a simple "Is it progressing?"

Today he was working on some of the older codes from the Gizoid's memory dump, not the weapons info but what seemed to be fragments of the ancient programming, trying to determine the most effective way to make the changes he intended. When he called up the computer files - which were supposed to contain everything that had been in he Kauai computers - he found that one of his files had gotten damaged and was half missing. So now he was rummaging through all the computer files in an attempt to recover the missing info. He was fairly certain this could get him into a large amount of trouble if he was caught - but it never occurred to him that it might lead to even more trouble if he wasn't caught...

He had, automatically and almost absent-mindedly, 'acquired' the passwords for most of the secret and private files, but he ignored those at first, presuming that the missing data was more likely to be found in the gaps between files (_when **was** the last time they de-fragmented their computer?_) or erroneously appended to another public file. So he hunted for bits of familiar code until the word 'ARK' caught his eye. _'ARK's Indestructible Seal'? What in heaven's name is that? It sounds like some sort of security program. _The file had a fairly high security lock on it, but Gerald's curiosity got the better of him and he cracked it open easily and without a qualm. Skimming over the initial secrecy warnings and prosecution threats he located the main text– and felt his blood turn cold.

This was it. This was IT. The plan that had destroyed his life, his work, his plans and hopes. "Due to the erratic and highly aggressive nature of the Project: Shadow organism and the evident inability of the researchers to control it...The Ultimate Life Form branch of the project must go forward to create the perfect soldier...evacuation of all civilians on the ARK and capture and confinement of all involved with Project: Shadow or in close proximity to the Ultimate Life Form...Officially they are to be reported as victims of the 'accident'." _Capture and confinement. Not death, but prison_, he glanced around his own room, no bars in sight, but... _Or the equivalent, at least. _ He began hunting through the file, feeling a sudden surge of hope– was it possible that Maria wasn't dead? If the researchers and all had been taken captive rather than killed - of course, without the Heal Units her disease would have reemerged, but... His heart beat faster as he scanned and rescanned the text looking for some indication of where the researchers were supposed to have been sent once they were captured. If he could find out where, he could find out if they really were there. And if they were... _Perhaps it's not too late yet. If she was healthy, at least effectively so, when she was captured, she could still be alive. And if we can locate Shadow, I can generate the cure again and save her... _Frantically he worked his way through the document, growling in frustration as he discovered that nothing was named directly_. Code names! Why are the military and government so obsessed with code names, even in their own secret documents!? _At last he found two names that he thought indicated where the "victims" were supposed to be held. Now he only needed to figure out where "DeepWoods" and "ArcIsle" were.

More hunting through files he oughtn't have been in (and blocking or diverting a couple of security programs that attempted to identify him as an intruder) revealed that ArcIsle was actually ARKauai, well he knew there was no one there. DeepWoods proved trickier to identify but finally turned out to be...right where he was. Prison Island. Disappointment settled around him; he hadn't seen or heard anything about any of his fellow researchers being here. But a last glimmer of hope sent him digging again for the actual inmate list - perhaps they were in another section? Being kept separate from him for some obscure reason? What he found was something else entirely.

The security films from the space colony. Buried deep, under several layers of passwords that should have meant no one but the base commander could access them, he found the inmate list and also a set of very familiar file names. Eagerly he called them up, desperate to see what sort of threat had sent Shadow and Maria fleeing for their lives, that was so awful or secret that the military would not even tell him what it was... He keyed in the hallway outside the observation room first, the site where that one picture had shown Maria and Shadow running. He stared almost greedily as the pair ran into the camera's pickup, at the sight of his beloved granddaughter - and then stared in confusion as a group of soldiers ran into view._ Soldiers? But I don't see the threat they– _onscreen Maria stumbled before he could finish his thought, and he shouted in horror as one of the soldiers fired at the pair! He saw Maria clutch at her arm, then Shadow dragging her on. _NO! Not GUN, they CAN'T be the enemy can they? They were sent to the ARK to protect us! They BUILT the colony in the first place for our research! _It made no sense, they wanted to use the scientists' brains, why eliminate them? And why attack a helpless girl? The recorded corridor was empty now, he fumbled at the keyboard, having to backspace and retype several times before managing to pull up the recording from the camera in his lab. Knowing he didn't want to see what was going to happen, but needing to_ know_ what had become of his family, he forced himself to watch.

The angle was perfect, showing the door, the control column and the escape pod. The door slid open and Shadow leapt through, turning to lock it as Maria stumbled for the control console. Gerald turned pale as he saw his granddaughter leaning on the console, blood dripping down one arm and onto the column, as she typed with the other, saw her turn her head towards the hedgehog who ran to the escape pod and opened it, saw both heads turn sharply towards the door. Whoever was outside didn't immediately step through, but the muzzle of a gun came into view, followed by the rest of the gun and an arm in a GUN uniform. Gerald couldn't move, he couldn't even breathe; he KNEW what was going to happen and wanted to close his eyes, to hide, but he could not even look away from the screen. He saw Shadow freeze in the pod, not daring to move, he saw Maria slowly standing upright from where she had been leaning on the console...he saw her sudden lunge for the pod and her body twisting in mid-step as the gun flashed. He saw Shadow's involuntary flinch, and knew why the Ultimate Life Form had left without his sister, for the pod slammed shut even as the inner laboratory door sliced down, blocking the soldiers out. He could only stare in horror with tears flowing down his face as his fallen Maria raised herself on one arm, the entire back of her dress stained red, apparently saying something to Shadow, and then the pod dropped, taking most of the lab's air with it as it left, leaving the twelve-year-old girl sprawled face-down on the floor.

The outer airlock door closed (the inner one was actually part of the pod) the air was replaced and the inner lab door opened, allowing the squad of soldiers entry. One caught Maria by the shoulder and roughly flipped her over...and it was clear that she was already dead. Somehow Gerald shook off enough of his paralysis to stop the tape, and close out the file._ They lied. They lied about everything . THEY killed her, **they** killed her for no reason at all and fed me that story about how they'd tried to help her, her last words when she was **already dead **when they got into the lab! _He was shaking now with a mixture of grief and rage. He didn't need to look any further for his colleagues, he was certain that they were dead as well in the 'accident'. _Accident! An accident arranged and executed - **literally** executed! - by the ones that were supposed to protect us! How could they? How **could** they!?_

The chimes rang to announce mealtime. Somehow he got to the mess hall and got his meal, for he found himself sitting at a table eating...something...his mind still pitching back and forth between that horrible, damning tape and his own fury. Then he was back in his room, pacing from the far end of the lab through the door to the opposite side of his bedroom and back again. The tumult in his brain had too much energy, some had to be converted to physical motion or he would explode. At some point he must have stopped his pacing and gotten into bed, because when the first of his nightmares brought him awake in cold sweat and tears, that was where he found himself.


	33. 9i Descent into Darkness

**A.N:** No more Wednesday posts, I'm afraid; I've about caught up with the actual story - I'm working on part 3 of this chapter at the moment.

9.i. Descent into Darkness

The next morning Gerald returned to his attempts to reprogram the Gizoid, giving up his search for the missing data. He still had periodic flashes of fury at GUN's betrayal, but was unable to decide on a suitable - and feasible - revenge. All he could think of at the moment was to continue trying to program the Gizoid with an emotion-based artificial intelligence designed to emulate Maria's heart and soul. Removing the Gizoid from GUN's use was weak vengeance, but it was the best he could come up with. Just before noon he got a call from the Receiving Area, informing him of an impending delivery in the Weapons Stores.

Puzzled by what sort of weapon would have been sent to him - and who would have sent it - he dutifully made his way down to the designated area, though he found himself tensing at the sight of every soldier with a holstered handgun. As usual, the actual arrival of the shipment was a bit delayed, but finally the elevator on the far side of the room could be heard descending. Then the doors slid open and a large cylindrical container was trundled out on a forklift.

Gerald's breath caught in his throat. _That's– It can't be, surely...can it?_

It was. The forklift deposited its cargo and retreated, the elevator doors closed and were locked, and Gerald was given permission to advance. He moved forward in a sort of daze, walking in a complete circle around the object before positioning himself by the door at the bottom. At least, it had been the bottom when the cylinder stood in his lab. Though the once-clear sides were now opaque from the heat of re-entry, the ID stamped on the exit hatch had survived: ARK ResLab 16342GR. The question was whether Shadow was still inside; it had been nearly two months now since the alleged accident.

But as Gerald moved to unseal the hatch, a soldier stopped him. "You can't open it sir, not until the transport gets here. I'm sorry, but those are the orders: the pod is not to be opened for any reason until the permanent stasis bed is in proximity."

"Can't open it? But if Sh- if the Project: Shadow specimen is still in there, it could be in serious need of fluids and nutrition by now!" It hurt to speak of Shadow as a thing, but he realized that if they knew how much he cared for the hedgehog, he would not be permitted access to him at all. "Are you willing to jeopardize a high-level experiment just because-"

"The experiment is not at risk Professor," cut in the commander's voice, smoothly. As he stepped into the room behind Gerald, he continued, "The pod's contents were placed in stasis as soon as it landed, so the creature is in no worse need of food and water than it was when it escaped the ARK.

"I realize that you were the primary researcher involved, but considering your attachment to your granddaughter are you certain that you wish to continue work on the project?"

Gerald frowned slightly. "I'm sorry? I don't see what my love for Maria has to do with working on the project."

The commander raised an eyebrow. "I would find it difficult to work with a creature that was responsible for the death of so many, especially someone I 'loved'. You must be a much more forgiving man than I."

Gerald suppressed a surge of rage at the reminder of their lies. That and the commander's inflection of 'loved', as if he doubted that Gerald had really cared for Maria. _It wasn't **Shadow** who took Maria from me_, he snarled mentally. Aloud he said only, "I just hate to leave an experiment unfinished. Obviously something went wrong and I need to discover what is was so I can correct it and prevent recurrence." He kept his face as bland and expressionless as possible as the commander eyed him narrowly.

Evidently deciding it would be to GUN's advantage to have the expert continue to work on Project: Shadow, the commander acquiesced. Turning to the attending soldiers, he gave his orders: "Escort the pod to the stasis chamber as soon as the transport arrives. Professor Gerald will accompany you. He is to transfer the creature to the permanent stasis bed and verify its condition." He looked at Gerald, "You will do no more than that today. Any further work on the creature will have to wait until it is properly processed." The commander turned and stalked out of the room as the soldiers saluted.

Gerald seethed inwardly at being ordered about like a menial, but at least he would be permitted to retain contact with Shadow. He waited with the escort for the transport to arrive, watched carefully as the pod was loaded onto it, then followed with the rest as the laden vehicle trundled to the stasis chamber. He was well aware that the soldiers were watching him more than the pod, but ignored the fact. He could do nothing about it, and anyway, his main concern at the moment was the pod and its occupant. He masked his impatience as the escape capsule was hoisted and lowered (though he couldn't conceal his flinch as it thudded solidly against the ground) and advanced on the pod before they'd even gotten the chains detached.

The occupant - a single dokan, by the readings - was alive but in stasis. No injuries or abnormalities had been detected by the pod during landing. Gerald pulled himself away from the pod long enough to set up one of the stasis beds, which looked very like the artificial womb in which Shadow had been grown - he flinched again as the comparison called up memories of Maria peering in with him at the infant Shadow, which inexorably steered his thoughts through his learning of her death, the flare of false hope, and that fatal security tape.

_Blip, bleeip_. The bed was ready. He shook himself, trying to focus, how many times had it chirped at him? He darted a glance at the soldiers as he silenced the ready signal and keyed for the doors to open; they didn't seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. With the tube standing open, he adjusted the height slightly - most dokan were short, but they were all heavy compared to humans of equivalent size, and Shadow was no exception. Then he returned to the escape pod and finally permitted himself to run through the opening sequence.

The escape pods were fairly easy to open from inside, but they were much more complicated to access from the outside. But the air was breathable, the temperature good, the occupant uninjured (_Thank heavens_, thought Gerald), although still in stasis - the pod accepted his release codes and the base of the capsule swung away, allowing entrance. Huddled there amid the restraint fields was a motionless red-and-black ball of quills and fur that somehow radiated grief. Gerald reached in and took hold; detecting that the weight of the occupant was supported, the restraint fields cut out. The stasis effect had been cut off as soon as the doors had been opened, but would take half an hour or so to wear off. Gerald braced himself as the full seventy-seven pounds of hedgehog suddenly rested on his arms, and drew the limp body closer for easier carrying. He walked over to the stasis bed and carefully lay Project: Shadow within it, positioning the dark form so that Shadow lay on his back with his hands folded across his waist.

Gerald stepped back from the tube as the soldiers moved forward, ready to escort him back to his room now that he'd carried out the commander's instructions. A few moments ago he might have argued, or even tried to awaken Shadow before they could stop him, but suddenly he wasn't sure he was ready to face the hedgehog. It wasn't Shadow's fault, it was in _no way_ Shadow's fault that Maria was dead...but this creature in the tube before him was the last person to have seen her alive, and had left her to die alone...and had been the **reason** for the attack that had killed her. He abruptly turned his back on the stasis tube and its immobile occupant and returned to his quarters with rapid strides that nearly left the soldiers behind. Once safely "home", he crawled into bed and pulled the covers over his head, wishing he could simply wake up and find himself back on the ARK, with Maria and Shadow waiting to greet him.


	34. 9ii Uncomfortable Reunion

ii. Uncomfortable Reunion

Three days later, Gerald finally got up the nerve to awaken Shadow. He had seesawed back and forth between a desperate need to awaken the hedgehog and reunite, however incompletely, with his "youngest son" and a - fear? revulsion? certainly a distaste - for interacting with the being that had, even indirectly, led to Maria's death.

_It wasn't **Shadow** who killed her, it was GUN. It **certainly **wasn't his fault that he was created - that was **my **doing. It's not fair to blame him, he would have saved her if he'd had any way to do so_, Gerald told himself firmly. _But it won't be the reunion I might have hoped for. If the commander thinks I have any personal interest in "the subject" he won't let me near him again, ever. So be cool, Gerald. Convince the soldiers that this is merely another Chaos rat, or lizard. _Deep breath. _If I don't do it now, I never will._ Gerald reached out and hit the "Wake" button.

Gerald had poked around in the computer files a bit more over the last three days, looking for info on what, if anything, had been done to Shadow after landing. Apparently GUN had met the pod as it landed and immediately triggered the stasis lock remotely. (Stasis lock was a feature intended for those times when a pod could not be opened in a reasonable amount of time, or if the occupant was known to be injured; it overrode the automatic waking functions of the pod that were supposed to activate about 30 minutes after landing.) More interesting though had been the order to delete all records of the pod's recovery, including invoking the Secrecy Act on the select squad that had performed the rescue operation. Officially the escape capsule launched from Gerald's laboratory was untraceable and had never been recovered. A note in the file indicated that this was to preserve the "integrity" of the ARK's Indestructible Seal - if the ultimate soldier were linked to the Project: Shadow from the ARK, the "accident" might be called into question. As far as anyone outside would know, Shadow the hedgehog, the Ultimate Life-form and soldier, would be created and born on Prison Island.

_Well, they may not like the soldier they get_, thought Gerald grimly. _Shadow's not likely to take orders very readily from the ones who murdered his sister.__ (Which may be to my advantage.) _Gerald paused, cocking his head slightly. He felt like he'd heard a voice, whispering at him. He shook his head slightly - there'd been stress and then some in his life recently but he was NOT going to start hearing voices now. He stepped away from the control panel and stood beside the stasis bed, now positioned vertically so the occupant was standing within it. He'd set it for a slightly delayed awakening, he needed Shadow's brain as alert as possible if they were going to pull this off. He saw the eyelids twitch, and a slight shift in the muscles as they tried to move against the stasis field. The brain was awake, but the body was being released more gradually. "When the subject awakens," he said loudly to the watching guards, "he will probably be rather confused. Kindly do NOT shoot him unless he actually attacks anyone; remember that this experiment can be dangerous if angered, and we wish to keep things calm." His eyes never left the hedgehog's face as he spoke, noting another twitch of the eyelids, and the mouth. He'd cued as much as he dared. Now he merely watched as the rest of the stasis field shut off and Shadow opened his crimson eyes.

The eyes blinked once, twice, and focused. After a moment, the hedgehog stepped out of the bed and startled Gerald by dropping to one knee, head bowed and one fist pressed to his chest. "I exist to serve you, my master. Command me as you will."

_Gerald_ nearly gave the game away at that point, the only thing that kept him from demanding "What are you talking about?" was the slash of pain in his heart and mind as he recognized the pose: Shadow playing the Knight to Maria's Queen as they rehearsed a school play, "I exist to serve you my lady, command me as you will." And Maria, as regal as she could be, "Then rise, good sir knight, and bring me the golden tail-feather of the Arabian phoenix to prove your worth and loyalty."

He caught himself and brusquely ordered the hedgehog to rise, and sit on the examination table in the room. Which was a fair height for a dokan-sized individual, but he dared not assist him. Shadow had no problems hopping up on the table however, and Gerald turned to take a surgical mask from the counter and put it on. Offering more masks to the soldiers, he announced, "There are certain elements that Project: Shadow requires to maintain healthy function. Anyone staying in the room for the next twenty minutes must wear a mask to avoid the fumes from the chemicals." As he'd expected, the escort, after a momentary exchange of glances, decided they could guard the entrance just as effectively from **outside** the door.

Gerald chuckled to himself as he turned back to the counter and flicked the switch on a small canister. Shadow, of course DID require certain elements to stay healthy - the same ones humans did. The canister actually released a large amount of water vapor, a few puffs of tinted talcum powder, and a bit of perfume - not that a surgical mask would have been any good against vapors in any case. The canister switch also triggered a tape he had prepared, of his voice interviewing and instructing a computer-generated Shadow-voice that would be fed directly into the security lines; nothing actually said in the room would be recorded until he cut it off. He kept his mask on for the security camera; it gave veracity to the "vapor" excuse, and it prevented anyone noticing that what the camera 'heard' was not what his mouth was actually saying. Fortunately Shadow's back was to the camera.

_The most important question first - well, second_, he thought as he moved back towards the hedgehog_. Tell him where he is first. _"You're on Prison Island, Shadow. The military stasis-locked your pod on landing and brought you here, where I was already being held because of the Gizoid .

"**_What happened on the ARK!?_**" His voice wasn't loud, but it was intense.

Shadow curled up on the table, as if to hide. Gerald found himself clenching his fists, feeling the urge to attack the hedgehog and beat the answers out of him. _(It **is** his fault, Maria would still be alive if he hadn't run for the pod like a coward.) _Gerald blinked, startled by his uncharacteristic rage. That and the barely-heard whisper were enough to jolt him out of it. He looked around in spite of himself. _Where did that come from? _"Shadow," he said softly, returning his attention to the hedgehog, "please, I need to know what happened after I left the ARK."

The black-and-red form shivered but remained curled into a tight ball. "Professor," a voice whispered.

"They can't hear us at the moment," Gerald reassured him. "They think they can, but it's not really us. Just don't look towards the camera as you talk."

Another silence from the huddled quills, then, "Father.

"I– I'm so sorry, I failed, I– I couldn't stop them. They shot her, they–" Shadow seemed to shrink in on himself even further if possible, then suddenly relaxed slightly. Apparently having gotten control of himself he started over, still quietly but much more coherently.

"Only a couple of hours after you left, there was an announcement that something was wrong with the colony. One of those, 'Please don't be alarmed, this is only a precaution' sorts of announcements, only in this case the precaution was to evacuate everyone on the ARK. They never said why. They evacuated the school first, then by sections, saving the research and medical areas for last. W- we had been told to go to the medical wing because– because– We had been told to go to the medical wing. We waited until all the rest of the people were evacuated, I think only the researchers and doctors and the resident patients were left. Then, the soldiers that had evacuated the civilians started shooting everyone who was left. I saw that they'd killed the doctors in the lounge and I took– took _her_ and ran, I thought if we could get back to the lab, we could take the escape pod and be safe. But when we got in the hall..."

Suddenly the dark form uncurled, and Shadow was looking at Gerald with tear-filled eyes. "Oh, Father...we got to the last hall before the observation room and they found us; they were after me, I think, but they shot Maria. We kept going and while I locked the door she started to set the controls and yelled at me to get in the pod. I'm sorry, I should have sent her in and set the controls myself..."

Gerald swallowed hard and placed a hand on top of Shadow's head, all the reassurance he dared give while the cameras watched. "I know Shadow. Go on."

"The soldiers shot the door until it opened, Ma-Maria... was at the controls. The told her to stop and she did, but then she tried to run for the capsule and they–" the hedgehog buried his face in his hands. "They killed her," a barely audible whisper. "I tried to go help her, but the- the capsule had shut and I couldn't get out." He suddenly brought his head up again, his face full of grief and self-loathing, and yelled " I COULDN'T GET OUT!!" Looking down at his hands, he continued more quietly, "Maria made me promise, to make them happy. Then the capsule dropped out of the ARK, and that's all I remember.

"I'm sorry Father, I was supposed to protect her and I...failed." He wiped a hand across his face, blotting his tears.

"No," answered Gerald a bit shakily, "you did everything you could do. If you'd stopped to argue over who was going to set the controls, GUN would have caught you both. You know ..._she_...would have argued. And those soldiers had been told to kill everyone who knew anything about you. There wasn't anything else you could have done." He turned away from Shadow to look at the monitors on the wall. "I think...I think I'd better put you back in stasis, Shadow. I'm sorry - I'll get you out as soon as I can - but they want me to turn you into a proper soldier, and if they think I care about you they won't let me near you again. They've already ordered me to make the Gizoid a weapon, I couldn't bear for them to make you one too."

There was silence behind him, then a near-whispered "If you must, sir." That wasn't like Shadow, he should have argued the point, but it did make things easier. Gerald checked the 'alternate dialogue' playing for the security cameras, heard it was at a good point and cut it off. "All right Project: Shadow, that's enough. Return to your stasis bed."

His face expressionless again, Shadow slid off the table and marched across to the bed, which had returned to its horizontal position. Gerald thought he detected a slight pleading in the hedgehog's eyes as he reactivated the stasis, before they slid shut in response to the fields, but he honestly didn't know what else to do. What he did know was that any 'work' he did on the Ultimate Life-form would be with Shadow in stasis; while under surveillance he could not give the hedgehog the comfort they both needed, and it would not be possible to work together without releasing the tension somehow.


	35. 9iii I Was Sane Enough

**A/N: **I wasn't sure I was going to get this posted - the upload failed 5 times and I still don't know why! Anyway, one last post this weekend and the story is finished, although I may follow Shadow on a bit as he regains his understanding of Gerald's _ true_ legacy...but that's another story, literally. The last part (s) uploaded just fine, so they're ready to go - come back Saturday for 9iv and the Epilogue.

iii. I Was Sane Enough...

Gerald sighed softly as he closed the chest plate on the Gizoid, banging lightly with his fist to click it shut. He'd just removed the Chaos Emerald after running the Gizoid through a variety of exercises. That part was finished, he hoped. "Bring hope to all humanity," he said quietly to the inert robot. "Use the powers you may contain for good, to help people...and I hope you will be more successful in that than I was." He paused, then shook himself sharply as he realized he was listening for a reply - not from the Gizoid, but from the internal voice that had been whispering at him recently. It worried him a bit, but he chalked it up to stress and grief; he was NOT going to report to the Island medical unit and let the military doctors poke around in his mind. Aside from the fact he didn't trust them, he had too many secrets he dared not reveal. "I don't know how it came to this," he continued his soliloquy to the silent gold puppet that had once destroyed the world, pacing back and forth across the room. "I only wanted to help people. How did I get from bioelectronics to Ultimate Weapons? It always seemed to make sense at the time. Now I feel like the man who told the judge 'Your Honor, I was sober enough to know I was drunk.' _Was_ it a mistake to create the Ultimate Life-Form? I wasn't sure when I wrote that question in my journal, and I still don't know. I wanted to use Shadow's immortality to help cure Maria; and I _would have_! I had _solved_ it!" He whirled towards the immobile robot...and paused, panting, as the sudden rage drained as quickly as it had come. "But then it all went wrong," he paused as a memory niggled, then huffed a sound between a laugh and a sob as the memory came clear. Maria had loved that song, singing with all the poignancy and innocence a young girl could muster. "'I dreamed a dream in time gone by.' Well I did, and it certainly did turn to shame. But not Shadow. He's far more than I could have dreamed, in spite of me. I wanted a cure, a defense, an Ultimate Life-Form, even at the end a weapon, but" _I ended up with a son, who will far exceed his 'father'_. The last part was not said out loud, even in the manufactured privacy of his lab. GUN had been criminally careless thus far in failing to recognize his talent with computers, but there was always the chance that someone might crack the code he'd put in to modify the images and sound recorded by the cameras. _He has absorbed Maria's soul directly; what I tried to program into the Gizoid, Shadow has acquired by birth and upbringing._ He knew from Shadow as well as his own evaluation that Shadow would have done anything for Maria, and still would - whatever promise he had made her, he _would _fulfill it. _While I..._ he looked at the Gizoid._ I have done what I can with this one, now I must get it out of here if possible to prevent someone undoing the changes I have made. And the Emerald must go as well, it's too powerful to leave in military hands. But Shadow..._

_(Shadow will be the weapon they desire but not as they expect. They will pay for their lust for destructiveness with their own destruction.) _Gerald started and stared around again. Shivering involuntarily, he thought firmly, _Shadow is not a weapon, he is a person._

_Now I know I'm going crazy, I'm answering back to my own subconscious._ Still, there was a certain allure to the image of Shadow obliterating the GUN base with the Eclipse cannon. He had dreamed it a few nights previously and had difficulty shaking the image. _STOP IT, Gerald! The important thing now is to get the Gizoid out of here. And the Chaos Emerald. Later, once Ivan's got the Gizoid safely hidden and the search has died down some, I can send him the activating phrase and he can activate the emotions-base AI and bring it to life. _"Bring hope to all humanity," he muttered again; that was the activating phrase. He pocketed the Emerald and hauled the Gizoid back to the place he'd been keeping it when he wasn't working on it; a spot carefully chosen for being out of range of the security cameras' line of sight. He'd also placed a large box in the blind spot at one point, straining rather theatrically as he dragged it to suggest that it was far heavier than it was, rather than completely empty.

Now, carefully keeping the camera range in mind, he loaded the Gizoid into the box. The box supposedly contained "critical robotic components" that he'd "ordered" from Ivan's corporation (at great savings to the government, of course); per instructions he'd slipped out around the e-mail censor, Ivan had in fact shipped him a box containing several large plastic bags full of water. The water had been drained surreptitiously before he'd hauled the box to his lab. Over the next few days he'd complained loudly about being shipped the wrong parts, and emailed the same complaints to Robotnik Inc. (Being certain that those - like the original order- passed through the censor). Ivan had responded with the shipping code to return the shipment at no charge, and today was the day it was to go out. He packed the Gizoid and added a copy of his diary and a small box containing the Chaos Emerald, carefully wrapped in plastic. Strolling back into the camera's range, he carefully placed the box that _had_ contained the Emerald into the small laboratory safe. Leaning over to hit the communications switch, he called Supply.

"I need a pickup for this box of components. I can't _believe_ my own son could mess up my order so badly, but I'm not going to be able to finish this robot until I get the correct parts sent in. I've put the Emerald in the safe here in the lab, that will allow me to continue the adjustments if I get any new ideas to try. Anyway, I've boxed the parts up, and got the label Ivan sent on it, so if you can send someone to deliver it to the dock for shipment I'd appreciate it."

"Acknowledged. Someone will be sent at once. We can put the Emerald back in our safe– "

"No," interrupted Gerald, "I'd rather keep it here; this project's been delayed enough already and if I have the emerald here I can work on it without pestering Supply at two in the morning when inspiration hits." He'd checked the work roster and knew that Lt. Andrews was managing the Supply stores today - and Lt. Andrews had more than once been on the receiving end of middle-of-the-night inspiration from researchers on Prison Island, and he valued his sleep.

As he'd expected, Lt. Andrews permitted him to keep the Emerald as long as it was safely secured. Gerald assured him it was safe - _safely on its way out of the military's reach_, he clarified mentally - and signed off. Soon after, he sent the box containing the Gizoid and the Emerald on its way, and received word about an hour later that it had left the Island and should arrive at Robotnik Inc. within the week. He sighed in relief and turned his attention to a new sleep-training program for Shadow. Pulling up the security camera footage that he'd resaved in his own files under new names, he began putting together a tape of the shots of Maria and Shadow running, and the scene in the lab; he was recording a voice-over "Remember what they have done Shadow, what they have taken..." when abruptly he realized what he was doing. With a feeling of shock, he slapped at the keyboard to clear the program, starting to shiver at the realization that he had been starting to sabotage his own plans. Sternly he tried to put his thoughts back into order, not realizing as he did so that he had actually SAVED the new program rather than deleting it.

His mind kept returning to his dreams, not only the grandly vengeful ones of destroying the GUN base, or even the planet, but the odder, more subtle ones, where he'd adapted a video camera to uplink to the ARK and set the programming on the ARK so that it would activate the rock shield to camouflage the colony as soon as any communication with the camera was finished. Or made other changes to the base's programs, or the ARK's. He shook himself and focused his mind firmly on dinner as he headed for the mess hall.


	36. 9iv to Know I was Mad

iv. ...To Know I Was Mad

Gerald was frowning at the papers on his desk when someone knocked on his door. The figures were clearly complex equations, but he couldn't quite focus on them. "Come in," he called, automatically.

He looked up to see Shadow slipping quietly in, closing the door behind himself. "Are you busy, Professor?"

"No, no," Gerald sat up and pushed the blank pages away. "What's up, Shadow?"

The dark hedgehog walked across the lab and stared out the window. "So lovely...Maria always wanted to go back to Earth and live like normal people, you know. It's really too bad you didn't tell her how close you were. Especially when you left without telling her you'd FOUND a cure!" The scarlet eyes blazed into Gerald's as the hedgehog whipped away from the window and was standing in front of the scientist before he could blink. He had the impression that the hedgehog was glowing faintly, and tried to step back but realized he was still sitting down. _Wait, I didn't tell Shadow about the cure... _The thought was lost as the hedgehog continued.

"But now it's too late. And it's their fault, GUN attacked the ARK intending to kill everyone aboard, and the government must have set them up, since the government has been funding the project since the beginning. And no one cares. All those people out there, that Maria wanted to help, they're just going about their lives completely oblivious to the fact that a little girl was slaughtered for NO reason at ALL! WHAT are you going to do about it?"

Gerald managed to tear his eyes away from Shadow's, his line of sight skimming across the papers on the desk. He looked away from them quickly, he couldn't bear to see the pictures of Maria dying on the floor of the lab. He stared out the window as Shadow had done, watching the Earth floating serenely in space, clouds swirling white and grey above the continents and oceans. As he watched it seemed a speck of red appeared in the depths of the ocean and spread, until the seas were red as blood. In the back of his mind a gun went off, and a girl pirouetted and fell. What could he do? He blinked and felt the immensity of space around him, staring at the scarlet planet and the mote orbiting it with the central column of the cannon aimed at the equator. Like the needle of a bulbous dart. He reached out and swatted it, sending the space colony asteroid diving point first into the planet's atmosphere. _No, too fast_, he thought, as the asteroid exploded and the shockwaves crashed across the surface of the globe. He put it back the way it was and reached out to barely tap the back of the colony. This time the half-sphere progressed slowly towards the planet, then began to tumble out of control. It still caused a lot of destruction, and this time he watched the people realize what was going to happen and panic, running and screaming in terror as the gigantic projectile approached. _Yes, give them time to see, to realize, to worry about their own loved ones. They will **all** feel my despair and grief._ But that tumble needed to be stopped.

With Shadow by his side he began typing at the computer on his desk, calling up the Eclipse Cannon's computers and changing programs deep in the heart of the colony's mainframe. He altered the stabilizing programs that maintained the orbit before burying them deep and protecting them; now, when all seven Chaos emeralds were positioned around the cannon's core shrine, the stabilizing thrusters would instead become active thrusters, pushing the colony inexorably into the planet's gravity well. Just in case, he modified the Biolizard's restraint fields; once the Emeralds were in place any attempt to remove them would release her from her stasis, a few more keystrokes edited the restraint chip he had inserted while she was in stasis. She would awaken angry, and if defeated she would flee for the nearest solid ground, which would be the planet; her chaos powers might not be consciously controlled, but animal instinct would apply all available power to her escape. _They won't stop that_, he thought in grim satisfaction. _What **is** that noise? _

Alarms were going off all over the ARK - no wait, wasn't he on Prison Island? And Shadow was in stasis, wasn't he? - and the lights were flashing on and off. Shadow was gone and Gerald looked around in bewilderment at his room on Prison Island as soldiers burst in, guns at the ready. As he raised his hands he realized that he'd been typing in his sleep. _What have I done_, he asked himself, and shivered as he realized that he didn't truly care. _They **will** feel my grief and despair,_ said the voice that he'd been hearing at the edges of his mind. _Shadow will see to it._ Suddenly memories came clear - **had** he been dreaming, or had he gone schizophrenic, one part of his mind unaware of what the other was doing? He suddenly remembered not only saving the new flash training for Shadow when he'd intended to erase it, but starting it running in the stasis bed's systems. _'Remember what they have done, these heartless humans who murdered a child to no purpose and for no reason. Remember what you saw the soldiers doing to those on the ARK they were supposed to protect...' No, oh no_, he shook his head, oblivious to the soldiers' angry demands. _Oh, **yes**._ He felt his mouth curling into a grin of triumph. _Too late for any of them now. __(It is too late for any of **us**)_, came the echo. He shivered and stood up, raising his hands over his head as he felt his control sliding away like water down a drain.

The commander entered the room, visibly shaking with fury. "Professor Gerald Robotnik, you are hereby accused of treason and sabotage of military and government property. Do you have anything to say to this?"

"You won't be able to undo it. All you can do is hope that no one lets Shadow loose. He KNOWS his task. But if his systems are terminated, do you know what that cannon can **DO**?" Gerald started to laugh. The commander was staring at him, not quite open-mouthed, but several of the troops did have their jaws dropped. The cannon would do nothing if Shadow were terminated of course, but they couldn't prove that one way or the other. And there was plenty that he had done that they could prove; prove but not undo.

He was escorted out of his quarters, surrounded by armed guards that moved him quickly down, deeper into the installation. He was locked in a cell, still laughing like a madman, while a last desperate part of his brain watched, unable to regain control of his own body. Time seemed to go mad itself at that point: food came; or sometimes there was an empty tray, but no memory of eating; it was light, then dark; when things stabilized a bit the back wall was somehow covered with his own calculations, in his own hand, and the floor was littered with stubs of grease pencils. He found one that was still useable and made a few corrections automatically, looking around. The cell was one of several, actually four-sided cages of bars, the floor and back wall made of stone. The other cells were empty but a soldier sprawled in a chair near the door of the room that contained them, reading a magazine. Suddenly, the soldier sat upright, the magazine vanishing as if by magic.

As Gerald looked at him, the door opened and the commander stepped through. Though his face was nearly expressionless, Gerald could feel the fury emanating from him even across the room. The commander paced steadily across the floor to stand in front of the cell. "Professor Gerald Robotnik. You are hereby informed that you have been sentenced to death for high treason and theft and destruction of government property. We have found evidence that you have tampered with our computer systems, accessing files you had no clearance or permission to access and altering them. You have corrupted the Project: Shadow weapon and mishandled the Project since its inception as evidenced by the disasters on the Space Colony ARK, not to mention programming the Gizoid in such a fashion that it destroyed a military research installation. You have also stolen the Gizoid as well as the Chaos Emerald. If you tell me where they are, we may be able to lighten your sentence slightly."

"What is my sentence?" asked Gerald. He was still trying to remember what had happened recently. "Wait, when did I have a trial?"

"You were tried_ in absentia_; it was considered a security risk to have a raving madman in the room during the case. Or don't you recall insisting that you would verbally order the Eclipse Cannon to pinpoint and destroy the island unless we returned your granddaughter? You have been sentenced to execution by firing squad, but if you tell us what you have done with the Gizoid and the Chaos Emerald we will commute your sentence to life on prison, with appropriate counseling and medical care, of course."

_Life in prison, with GUN psychiatrists poking at my brains until I die? _Neither part of Gerald found that option appealing. "Look anywhere _on_ the island you want," he said, stressing the word 'on' just enough to draw attention, "you won't find the Gizoid. And the Emerald - it came from a floating island, so maybe it just _floated_ away."

The commander's face grew harder, and he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. "You have 48 hours left to live," he threw back over his shoulder as he passed through the door. "Use it well."

"Wait! I do get a last request, don't I?" called Gerald. The commander paused in the doorway, then inclined his head slightly without turning around.

"In my lab, on the computer desk. There's a video camera. I would like someone to film the execution and my last words with it. It's got some footage of Maria in it too so we can be together at the end." That last sounded more stupid than insane even to Gerald, but it was critical that they used that particular camera, it was the one he'd modified to link directly to the ARK. Or thought he had. ( No, he had, he did remember that now.) The footage would be stored until someone did awake Shadow, or put the seven Chaos Emeralds in the Eclipse Cannon of their own accord.

Unaware of Gerald's scrambling thoughts, the commander stated, "It shall be done. You and your granddaughter will... be together in the camera."

_Definite note of patronization there_, thought Gerald. _Ah well, it will all be over soon._


	37. Epilogue

Epilogue

The ARK swung in its silent orbit high above the Earth. Suddenly a computer clicked on deep in the heart of the asteroid as it began receiving a signal from a camera far below. On a tiny spot of green surrounded by ocean, a soldier was training this camera on a mustached man tied to a chair in a bare, walled enclosure. Behind the soldier holding the camera stood several more readying their firearms and a grim-looking commander. The man in the chair began to speak: "This is a death sentence for every human being on Earth. If my calculations are correct..." He told how the space colony would impact in twenty-three minutes. He spoke of Chaos Emeralds and the irrevocability of the program. "...All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me...will feel my loss, and despair!"

A moment of silence, the soldier confirming that there was nothing the man wished to add, and the signal terminated, triggering a last set of preprogrammed instructions. The ARK continued in its lonely path, but motors whined and energy fields powered up, folding in the stabilizing solar panels and beginning the slow process of attracting dust and rocks enough to give the illusion of an uninhabited asteroid; after which all systems but the those maintaining the rock shield and a certain stasis field would go on standby. Down on Prison Island the traditional "Ready!... Aim!...Fire!" had already signaled the end of a man named Gerald Robotnik. Ships and divers scoured the waters around the island, and troops combed the deep recesses of the base, searching for a missing robot and mysterious gem. One squad escorted a stasis bed to a new location deep in the sub-levels of the base, as a black hedgehog lay immobile in an artificial sleep that had no dreams. And on the mainland an infant dreamed, who would grow up on tales of his grandfather the great inventor and scientist, until the day he found the robot hidden in his father's factory and the diary it contained. Then he would go in search of a hidden weapon that his grandfather called his greatest invention.

**_Finis _**

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Thanks for reading! I may pick up with Shadow's story later, but I thought Gerald's had a lot of potential.


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